re: US as is won’t be around in 100 years.

quote:

---

The Mayan civilization, for instance, faded from prominence after the 16th century Spanish invasion brought warfare, disease and a foreign culture intent on spreading its own systems of faith and governance. The Mayan population was severely diminished, and what was left changed under the rule of its conquerors. This pattern exists throughout recorded history, dating back even to the earliest known civilization of Sumer, in Mesopotamia, which collapsed under the strain of recurring invasions in the second millennium B.C.

It's impossible to put a finger on a single reason that the Roman Empire fell, but discussion often leads scholars to discussions of outer attrition by barbarians tribes and inner decay. Meanwhile, Rome's rulers debased the currency through oppressive taxation and inflation.

The ancient Anasazi, or Pueblo, people of North America pose yet another interesting model for civilization collapse. They practiced agriculture and astronomy. They built elaborate cliff dwellings yet eventually abandoned them. Historians point to numerous factors in their decline, including warfare and cooler temperatures in A.D. 900 that hampered farming. Still other studies attribute their downfall to a divisive religious crisis that caused many of the Puebloans to migrate south to follow a new evangelical faith.

---