Thinking Class #038 - Dr. John Rapley and Dr. Peter Heather - Why Barbarian Invasion Is Not The Only Reason For The Fall Of An Empire
Dr. John Rapley is a political economist at the University of Cambridge and a senior fellow at the Johannesburg Institute for Advanced Studies. His books include Understanding Development, Globalization and Inequality, and most recently, Twilight of the Money Gods, Economics as a Religion, and How It All Went Wrong.
Dr. Peter Heather is a British historian of Late Antiquity and the Early Middle Ages. Peter is Chair of the Medieval History Department and Professor of Medieval History at King's College London. His many books include The Fall of the Roman Empire, Empires and Barbarians, Migration, Development, and the Birth of Europe, The Restoration of Rome, Rome Resurgent, and most recently, Christendom.
John and Peter are co-authors of Why Empires Fall: Rome, America, and the Future of the West.
In this episode, John and Peter tell us what a close reading of history has taught them about how empires end and why they are victims of their own success, the impact of poor financial health on maintaining empire and civilisation, why western nations should worry about spending more on national debt interest than on the military, and why it is just as important to look at rising levels of personal and corporate debt.
We also talk about international students in the United Kingdom and student visa issuance, and whether anything can be done to slow down and reverse civilisational decline, and whether it's about birthing the new. We also discuss why China is so strong and whether Chinese dominance is inevitable, and why we do not need to see rising world powers as a zero-sum battle. Finally, we speak about Peter's changing views on the importance of demographics and John's change of heart on the prospects of technological advances and AI being all they're cracked up to be.
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