This is such a weird essay. Almost nothing about the function of our modern world is related these ancient empires and small modern dissolutions. Yes, life in an agrarian society probably improved somewhat when your food was no longer being taxed to feed an army.
In our global economic reality, basically no country is self sufficient. We don’t have a 90% rural population ready to adapt to subsistence farming. Even putting aside reductions in QoL and luxuries, nearly 60% of global population lives in densely populated urban centers. Once the logistics supplying these centers break down, the surrounding areas don’t have carrying capacity to support them (much less so when you account for dependence on fertilizer and pesticides).
When things fall apart on a large scale in 2025 we don’t get to revert to a humble bucolic life, at least not until a ton of people die
This is such a weird essay. Almost nothing about the function of our modern world is related these ancient empires and small modern dissolutions. Yes, life in an agrarian society probably improved somewhat when your food was no longer being taxed to feed an army.
In our global economic reality, basically no country is self sufficient. We don’t have a 90% rural population ready to adapt to subsistence farming. Even putting aside reductions in QoL and luxuries, nearly 60% of global population lives in densely populated urban centers. Once the logistics supplying these centers break down, the surrounding areas don’t have carrying capacity to support them (much less so when you account for dependence on fertilizer and pesticides).
When things fall apart on a large scale in 2025 we don’t get to revert to a humble bucolic life, at least not until a ton of people die