[Main Blog Post] Understanding Spengler's Decline of the West Bit 5: Rationalism and Religiousness

[jprussell]

I think this will be the second-to-last post on The Decline of the West, at least for now. The next one will be a "grab bag" of quotes and thoughts that didn't quite rise to the level of "I should do a full post about this."

As always, I appreciate your thoughts and if there's anything I'm missing or that you'd like to see more of.

Comments

[jprussell]

Thanks for your comment!

On your first point, I'd say that those are examples of engineering, not fundamental physics. Physics has been trying to make String Theory yield the kind of insights relativity and the quantum revolution did since the 70s, and from what I've heard, it has not been working. And folks like Peter Thiel say that outside of computers, we haven't been advancing much on engineering either.

That aside, as for "collapsing," I should reiterate that Spengler didn't characterize the transition from Culture to Civilization as "collapse" - he pinned the Apollonian transition from Culture to Civilization as happening between Alexander and Augustus - the entire imperial period of the western Roman Empire is during the "Civilization" period.

And yes, when our Culture/Civilization collapses, it seems very likely that one of China/India/Russia/some other Culture will have the most material power.

[thinking_turtle]

Thanks for pointing out the difference between collapse and the shift from culture to civilization.

Fundamental physics is a strange subject. Quantum theory, the standard model, and string theory are abstract models with supposedly mind-boggling implications. None are in use in engineering. General relativity is in use for GPS location, so that at least has a real use.