Razib at GNXP offers a useful summary-review of Peter Turchin's ambitious "War and Peace and War," in which Turchin offers three theories to explain much of human history. I offer my thoughts in the GNXP comments.
My published articles are archived at iSteve.com -- Steve Sailer
"Yesterday assman recommended Peter Turchin's oeuvre..."
ReplyDeleteOh dear God I thank you for everything within one degree of Steve Sailer :-)
The best part? Slightly over my (too big) head; never even heard of cliometrics before. I go read now.
They may not have taught me shit from shinola, baby boomers, but I'm catching up quickly.
The important question is: does Turchin's theoretical framework explain the fall of the Galactic Empire and the rise of the Foundation?
ReplyDeleteI think it does, to some extent. Seldon puts the encyclopedists (the seed of what will become the Foundation) on a marginal planet near the outskirts of the galaxy, a planet surrounded with less advanced -almost barbaric- systems that pose a constant threat. Meanwhile, the center of the Empire -the city of Trantor- quickly drifts into decadence and irrelevance.
Maybe Seldon read Turchin?
:::sound of crickets:::
ReplyDeletegood job
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