The Phases of Progress

There's a great book called a short history of progress by ronald right which i recommend every chance i get. He looks at seven or eight civilizations that have existed from easter island to sumeria to the Egyptians and these were all civilizations by any rational definition of the term collapsed. Every single one of them went through the same phases leading up to that collapse, he says. The civilization begins in a core and then spreads out because it's pulling resources in from the edge - it's colonialism. Eventually they reach a point where this sort of ruling class is no longer supported by the value of the resources that are being pulled in from the fringes so you can't keep running it