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Jan 7 15 tweets 5 min read Read on X
Like us, Ancient Rome had a birth rate crisis.

In 300 AD, Rome was a city of ~1 million people.

200 years later, hardly enough people lived there to fill the Colosseum.

And their story feels alarmingly familiar... (thread) 🧵 Image
Fertility has collapsed so rapidly in modern Italy that 1 million births in 1964 is down to <400k last year.

The state is even giving away homes for €1 to repopulate crumbling villages... Image
Italy's birth rate is 1.2, but the most catastrophic in the world is South Korea: 0.72 children per woman.

The number of births in South Korea will halve every 20 years at this rate. Image
But aren't rich country populations still growing?

Yes, for now — because people are living longer and the population is aging. The US will soon have more over 65s than children. Image
When the population does start to fall, it will compound at terrifying speed.

Italy is already entering its decline, and the last Italian could be born in under 200 years from now. Image
The problem is that when societies enjoy a sustained period of wealth, birth rates tend to decline thereafter.

The same is true of civilizations throughout history. Why, exactly? Image
It seems counterintuitive, but it can be explained.

In Ancient Rome, the wealthy became more concerned with status than with family — no children to inherit your wealth meant you could use it instead to acquire status and influence. Image
Analysis of skeletons in Herculaneum has shown wealthy women were having <2 children on average.

A big problem when the replacement rate is 6+ due to high infant mortality... Image
When the population drops off, you don't just get to enjoy more space and cheaper housing — everything falls apart.

Rome's buildings were slowly picked apart for their materials by a small population with no use for great arenas. Image
Of course, Rome's urban population collapsed for other reasons, too: invasion, disease, famine...

But these were problems they had overcome before. This time, Rome had eaten itself from within first. Image
People think Rome fell to conquest. But by the time of the 5th century invasions, it had long ago fallen to something worse — total apathy.

Rome had long since stopped producing Romans. Image
To hold the crumbling Empire together, Rome had for decades imported masses of barbarians to supply its armies.

When the last Western Emperor was deposed in 476 AD, it was by barbarians within his own ranks. Image
Rome fell not in a day, but over several generations — although not as many as you think.

The colosseum went from a roaring crowd of 80,000 to livestock roaming its ruins so quickly it's hard to believe... Image
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Most developed world populations are on the precipice of major decline — even taking into account net migration numbers propping them up.

And Japan's population fell by 861,000 in 2023. Image

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More from @the_culturist_

Mar 28
Reminder: Tolkien hated Disney.

He called them "hopelessly corrupted" and knew they'd ruin any story they touched.

Why? Tolkien's storytelling philosophy was profoundly different… (thread) 🧵 Image
The Hobbit was published a few months before the Snow White movie came out in 1937.

Tolkien watched it with his friend C.S. Lewis, and later insisted that Disney *never* adapt his own works… Image
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Mar 21
JRR Tolkien hated Dune because its ethics are fundamentally wrong.

The Lord of the Rings is a profoundly different take on Good and Evil — and how to live a moral life.

Here's why… (thread) 🧵 Image
Tolkien, in an unsent letter, said he disliked Frank Herbert's Dune "with some intensity".

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Dune, GoT and others adhere to the idea that good and bad actions are defined by their consequences.

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Mar 14
America built the greatest train stations ever seen — and then demolished them.

Here's what the American railway was like at its peak.

And what destroying it says about us… (thread) 🧵 Image
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Most of this, of course, is freight... Image
But Americans also once had the greatest passenger system in the world. Note the decline since the mid-20th century.

1962 vs. 2005: Image
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Mar 7
Lent marks Christ's 40 days in the Judaean Desert, where he's confronted by Satan.

Their clash is an epic philosophical showdown, and a masterclass in beating temptation.

Here's how it unfolds — and how to crush temptation yourself... (thread) 🧵 Image
Christ's battle with temptation isn't only that — it's a battle for the soul of all humanity.

Satan tempts Jesus to:
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But Jesus proves himself at each turn by flatly denying Satan.

The story is only brief in the Gospels, but John Milton's "Paradise Regained" expands it, exposing the nature of temptation — and how to destroy it for good. Image
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Feb 27
You've seen this series of paintings before, but look closer.

It contains a clue as to why civilizations collapse.

Hint: it isn't external forces — cultures erode from within… (thread) 🧵 Image
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Painting in 1836, Cole was warning the nascent United States of the dangers awaiting it… Image
We start with the "Savage State," where a storm is brewing in the air.

Men band together in the hunt for food and dance around a fire, the birthplace of culture. Image
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Feb 24
The Lord of the Rings does not take place on an imaginary planet — it's Earth.

Middle-earth is our forgotten past, before recorded history, when Eden (Valinor) was a real place.

The truth of Tolkien's world will blow your mind... 🧵 Image
Middle-earth is our Earth long ago, as Tolkien said:

"I have (of course) placed the action in a purely imaginary (though not wholly impossible) period of antiquity, in which the shape of the continental masses was different." Image
He even compared latitudes directly:

Hobbiton and Rivendell are about the latitude of Oxford, Minas Tirith the latitude of Florence, and Pelargir the latitude of ancient Troy. Image
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Read 16 tweets

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