Lessons from the fall of the Roman republic

The fall of the Roman Republic was precipitated by the fact that the system they created was so successful that it dispossessed the people that held it up. Namely, the Roman Republic was fought for and defended by a class of small land-owning farmers who were citizen-soldiers. By having a stake of land, they were tied to a particular place and fought for something they cared deeply about. 

By contrast, Carthage hired mercenaries to fight their wars, and in doing so, were subject to the ever-changing whims of those same mercenaries. By having a people that had a deep stake in what they were building together, the Roman Republic flourished, defeating the successors of Alexander the Great and the Carthaginian Empire. 

The downfall

Unfortunately, their success is exactly what led to their downfall. Their many successful wars brought in huge numbers of slaves. These slaves were purchased by the most wealthy landowners. These landowners then displaced other landowners by the fact that slave labor was cheaper hired labor. 

This fundamentally changed the society to a few aristocratic landowners managing huge swaths of slave-farmed land. Their failure to nip this issue in the bud led to the dispossession of a huge populace of farmers, which now flooded cities. 

Rome, under pressure by new enemies, drafted these individuals to the army once again without the land owning requirements. These new armies in turn became marauding bands, with no desire but plunder and no loyalty but to their own pockets. 

Rome's failure to recognize the process which was causing their downfall led to the downfall of the republic. 

Lessons learned

Online community

People's failure to be invested in online communities causes them to give in to the perpetual pressure to divide based on small differences. Cyber Sovereignty is based on enhancing this pressure to some degree, but societies must still be created and maintained, and the division process harnessed for good, and not to destroy what's being made. 

The key is to give people a deep and meaningful stake in the communities they create together. Intellectual property limited to members is the mechanism by which this can be done. 

Our greater society of strife

News media

The present generation is defined by strife. And this strife is being empowered by the inability to understand and control the factors which are accelerating the present divisions.

One key factor has been that cable television companies, which could depend on stable viewership in the past, now have to fight for attention in a crowded space of online creators. These companies, which have massive expenditure compared to the average online creator, had to resort to a new method of action to survive. They catered to extremely inflammatory content in order to maintain relevance through fear. 

By having to compete for attention rather than depending on steady viewership, these companies invented a new paradigm at the cost of the entire society in which they exist.

Social algorithms

Social media algorithms amplify outrage and lead to division. Unless we come up with a solution these divisions will only amplify create the downfall of our way of life. 

The key takeaway is not to see every action as arising from morality or immorality, but systems of change which can be modified for the better.