| > There wouldn't even be such a thing as a silicon valley billionaire if the United States wasn't the most wildly successful political entity for the past 2000 years. I don’t know that I would position the USA in this way. Different metrics lead to different “winners”: Longevity: Imperial China Institutional legacy: Rome Global reach: British Empire Scientific/cultural transmission: Islamic Caliphates Modern dominance: United States Another lens: * Rome & China = stability, governance, internal cohesion. * Britain & the US = networks, capital markets, technology leverage. * Caliphates = knowledge platforms, cosmopolitan integration. |