[apocalypstyx]

Maybe we should stop re-positing the specific developments of contemporary capitalism with some generic notion of civilization. A civilization is not some 'national body' that grows, matures, and dies exactly analogous to a biological organism.

[momirlan]

definitely not "national". but a civilization rises and then falls. it's a universal cycle, entropy at play.

[apocalypstyx]

A word replaced with one more vague one does not a robust argument make. Such a notion of universality lacks the concept of frames of reference and relies on an impoverished understanding of the concept of entropy. The argument for a cyclical imperative to history is at best tautological and fundamentally anti-empirical.