Chapter Eleven - Dark Ages

This is the old story; whenever one sets out to discuss collapse, one ends up by talking about continuity. -- G. W. Bowersock

It is not hard to find a historian who views the Dark Ages as a time when civilization nearly collapsed. It is the most often cited counterargument to a directional view of history. If society did nearly collapse, then it can't be that resilient or inevitably complex. Of course, since it was only Western society that was in danger to begin with, it would be more clearly stated that Western society nearly collapsed. And if we look closely, it is probable that even that is an overstatement.

Keep Keeping Your Eye On The Memes

When looking at the 'collapse' of a society, it is important to remember that it is more pertinent to look at what happens to a society's ideas rather than what happens to its borders or people. Even if a large part of a society collapses or is overthrown, if its ideas (memes) are kept intact, it can be viewed more as a passing of the torch than a real collapse. Undeniably Europe underwent regression during the Middle Ages, but much of the knowledge and ideas of Rome had already been transferred to Constantinople and the Eastern Roman Empire. Furthermore, although Rome's boundaries were large, and huge areas paid taxes to Rome, much of Europe did not have to backslide much to reach the level of feudalism. As Roman government collapsed, the people simply reverted to their old chiefdom-like systems.

The Fractal Beauty of Feudalism

Although feudalism is generally seen as an inferior system of government compared to the preceding Roman rule, it was well suited for a time of instability. A lord of a manor would agree to serve a higher lord and provide military service in return for military protection. This lord would in turn serve a higher lord, providing larger military groups, and so on up the hierarchy, sometimes as many as ten levels deep before reaching the king. If the higher levels of structure collapsed for any reason, the lower levels stayed intact and ready to regroup. While feudalism was particularly good at this trick, when ever a government collapses the society does not revert to anarchy -- people instinctively make alliances with those who share a common interest, and some form of government springs up.

The World Makes Backup Copies

Even if all of Roman civilization had truly collapsed, and all copies of the Greek works were destroyed, it would not have put that great a bump in the world's progress. The Chinese, Indian, and Islamic empires were thriving, both generating new memes and keeping alive old ones that disappeared from Europe. We would not have the Greek Histories today if every copy had been destroyed in the Middle Ages, but the things useful to society would not have disappeared.

An Energy Revolution

Besides horses (whose productivity was increased greatly by the invention of a harness that did not press on the horse's windpipe), the waterwheel was the major energy technology of the middle ages. As increased agriculture increased population density, ideas were increasingly being generated or refined within Europe. The waterwheel had been around since Roman times, but now it was being used to do a wide variety of tasks. The vertical windmill was also invented, and both lead to increased productivity and increased division of labor.

Capitalism Makes The World Safe For Itsself

One of the driving forces behind specialization of labor was the beginnings of capitalism. It flourished (for the time) in Europe partly due to the lack of rigid governance in the feudal system. Lords came to realize that towns, when left mostly to themselves, turned a tidy profit, taxes from which could help in any battle with a neighboring lord. In Italy especially, merchants developed systems of turning savings into investments. Through the contratto di commenda investors large and small could underwrite a ship's trading expedition, and by the end of the fourteenth century Venetian bankers realized they could invest some of the deposited money they held, since it was unlikely everyone would want all their money back at once. Capitalism gave its adopters an advantage over those following the old command-economy model, and therefore spread -- just as all non-zero-sum memes do, it made the world safe for itsself. It is worth noting that those in power want to stay in power, and therefore oppose ideas that decentralize their influence, which is why capitalist memes had not cought on sooner or more widely. Adavnces in technology tend to lead to political instability in the short run, but improve societies in the long run.

Freedom and Other Efficient Technologies

Freedom and democracy owe more to Capitalism than to any Greek tradition. As economic power was diffused by capitalism, political power was sure to follow. The ability of the 'commoners' to put pressure on the 'nobility' is the basic utility of a democracy. Slavery was nearly gone, and serfdom was ending -- not out of any high ideal, though, but due to basic utility. Free men in a market economy do far more for the economy than slaves or serfs -- freedom is simply a good idea.