SC - Re: Meats/spices in MA
Bonne of Traquair
oftraquair at hotmail.com
Fri Oct 27 11:27:54 PDT 2000
At 12:14 PM -0400 10/27/00, Philip & Susan Troy wrote:
(about the fall of the Roman Empire)
>Probably the best explanation is either "all of the above", or my own
>pet theory, shared by some authors on the subject, to the effect that
>communications and travel technology did not advance at the same speed
>as the population of the Empire, rendering the Empire's form(s) of
>government ineffective. IMO, the only thing that has enabled the USA,
>whose government is actually pretty similar to that of the Roman Empire,
>to survive, if indeed it has, at the population we have, is our
>communications technology.
>
>Adamantius
>--
>Phil & Susan Troy
Are you familiar with the Parkinson chapter where he argues that the
collapse of the British Empire was due to the improvement in
communications technology? Typically the central authorities knew
less than the people on the spot, but thought they knew more. In the
good old days, the Viceroy of India, on receiving orders he knew were
wrong, could stall for several months by sending home for
clarification--and by the time the clarification arrived, the
situation had changed so much that the clarified orders were no
longer relevant.
Then came the telegraph, and from then on it was all downhill.
- --
David/Cariadoc
http://www.daviddfriedman.com/
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