Rome, Christianity, Energy and Armageddon

The conventional histories blame the decline and fall of Rome on “decadence,” which they use to mean personal and sexual freedom. This explanation is transparently wrong. Rome was conquered 200 years after it had been Christianized and the practices deemed “decadent” had been outlawed. Which means that “decadence” was not, and could not have been, the reason for Rome’s collapse.

 There was however a real reason for the failure of Rome. That reason was myopia. In 20 AD, 1800 years prior to the Industrial Revolution, Hero of Alexandria invented the steam engine. Beyond using it to move doors of a few temples, the Romans did nothing with the invention. They thought that slave labor was cheap and abundant enough for them. Because of this disastrous decision, the Romans failed to industrialize; failed to end the horrible institution of slavery in which lived three quarters of the population and which was the real ongoing source of hate and resentment against Roman Empire and against “the world;” failed to make military machines that would have made mincemeat of any invading army; and failed to become the undisputed world leader that they could have been to this day if they had thought ahead. 

There are clear and present analogues between Roman Empire at the time of Hero of Alexandria and the world now. Science has made it clear that outdated, destructive, inefficient technologies such as oil and dirty coal are causing a climatic disaster. There are real solutions to this problem, and it does not mean going without technology. It means implementing on a significant scale the advanced, intelligent, abundant energy and water technologies such as the Hydrogen Transmission Network – technologies that will make it possible for people to have everything they have now and much more, while vastly reducing pollution and waste.

 Of course the people who falsely blame the fall of Rome on “decadence” are the same people who are denying the climatic disaster. They are also the same people who have an apocalyptic worldview. And it is time to say to these people the clear and the obvious:  

If you believe that burning the world will get you to heaven, boy do you have another thing coming. 
 
The people who cause and take part in creating catastrophes such as global warming would of course relish in apocalyptic ideation. Such a worldview denies reality of the future and gives them the permission to do as much damage as they want to occasion without considering the needs of the people who come after themselves. These are of course the same people who claim to have “family values” and responsibility as they inflict on their children a poisoned planet and hope for an end of all life before their children have reached maturity. 

It is time to say that this racket has gone on for long enough.

 The world can move from this point in any number of directions. One is to learn the real historical lessons and implement the intelligent, constructive solutions that will extend the future indefinitely and toward better and better places – both for one’s country and for the rest of the world. The other is to go the way of the Romans and fall into decline. Christianity failed to save Rome, and it cannot be expected to save the world now. Applied intelligence however can do that and much more. 

Implementing intelligent, constructive, abundant clean energy technologies will create a liveable world for one’s children, making the efforts that one has expended as parent pay off and be justified in having been made. It will also create a longer and better future for one’s country. Ultimately it is even better for the oil industry. Oil will last longer and be used to make higher-end goods such as plastics and pharmaceuticals, making more money for the oil companies and workers. The only people who will lose anything from clean energy is conmen who have been aggressively fomenting apocalyptic ideation; and I think I speak for most when I say that these conmen deserve to lose their credibility and their power to inflict destructive delusions upon humankind.
 
One can still believe in God, or in Jesus, or in Buddha, or in a new age, or in the Goddess, or in anything else that is believed. Only these beliefs cannot be allowed to stand in way of constructive solutions to real-world man-made problems, especially when the solution does not even require a change of lifestyle but rather a move to better technologies. Clean energy will benefit the economy as much as it will benefit the environment and will be for 21st century what electricity was for the 20th. And from this can be expected only the good, continuing indefinitely and improving life across regions and times.