Is Decline Inevitable?

Civilized cultures often complain about decadence, but it is typical for advanced cultures to be taken over by barbarians. This happened all through history. But advanced cultures usually downplay their own weakness and emphasize the vulgarity of barbarians. Is this cycle inevitable, like a force of nature? If we remain ignorant or lazy about the causes of decline it will continue.

Natural selection of people and cultures has taken place most strongly at the group level where altruism bonds the group together, aided by religion, art, and laws that affirm the survival and reproductive success of the group. Traditional conservative values tend to be closer to real human nature than progressive values that move away from such things as protective territoriality (including warrior defense), kin-centeredness, biologically-grounded gender differences, group-over-individual values, and so on.

Knowledge coming in from evolutionary studies shows us that immigration can change the culture---as the people change, the culture changes. But more importantly, human nature is on a genetic-cultural leash, as E.O. Wilson and others pointed out, and when people and cultures move too far away from real human nature their cultures are snapped back, often by barbarians who have not moved as far away from basic human nature as the more advanced cultures they conquer.

Advanced cultures who feel they are declining would do better to do less complaining about barbarian vulgarity and return to cultures that reflect more basic human nature.

If a strong culture affirming human nature can also attach ongoing evolutionary values, with Ordered Evolution, not revolution, then it has an even better chance of not stagnating and advancing.