Quite an interesting article. It is the nature of civilizations and empires to come and go. The reasons are many. In the case of empires, supreme arrogance often does them in. Some civilizations seem to vanish overnight. Many of these events remain a mystery.
There’s a book called the substance of civilization by Stephen Sass that addresses precisely this issue of technological discovery and how it changes civilization.
There's a book, a history of the world in twelve shipwrecks which touches on some of these points (such as the material in one shipwreck equaled enough material to make bronze weapons for 6000 troops, so its loss had significant implications for the nation state receiving them).
Quite an interesting article. It is the nature of civilizations and empires to come and go. The reasons are many. In the case of empires, supreme arrogance often does them in. Some civilizations seem to vanish overnight. Many of these events remain a mystery.
There’s a book called the substance of civilization by Stephen Sass that addresses precisely this issue of technological discovery and how it changes civilization.
There's a book, a history of the world in twelve shipwrecks which touches on some of these points (such as the material in one shipwreck equaled enough material to make bronze weapons for 6000 troops, so its loss had significant implications for the nation state receiving them).