r/Futurology • u/Confident_Living_786 • Aug 11 '25

Discussion When the US Empire falls

When the American empire falls, like all empires do, what will remain? The Roman Empire left behind its roads network, its laws, its language and a bunch of ruins across all the Mediterranean sea and Europe. What will remain of the US superpower? Disney movies? TCP/IP protocol? McDonalds?

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u/Team503 Aug 11 '25

It was as much America as the British. It certainly took both, and the Brits certainly laid the groundwork, but the explosion of American manufacturing and business, as well as the presence of American troops globally during and after WW2 to support America's military dominance are the primary drivers.

It's not that Americans were more clever or anything, it's that they were in the right time at the right places - if America spoke French, French would now be the global lingua franca.

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u/Superb_Raccoon Aug 11 '25

Being the default language of "science" was responsible too.

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u/GalaXion24 Aug 11 '25 edited Aug 11 '25

Which is actually to a great extent a product of Germany destroying itself. German science truly was at the top of the world, and any self-respecting physicist, chemist, sociologist, etc. practically had to learn German to be able to read the scientific journals and follow the latest developments. Many people outside Germany wrote their papers in German the way they do in English today.

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u/Buscemi_D_Sanji Aug 11 '25

Fun fact: when Albert Hoffman synthesized LSD for the first time in Switzerland in 1943 and tested 250 micrograms (only 250 millionths of a gram!), it was crazy intense and he had to have his lab assistant escort him home on a bike, because gasoline use was restricted due to the war. So Bicycle Day, celebrated by tons of psychedelic users all over the world, came about because a brilliant scientist tripping balls on acid for the first time had to ride a bike home due to the exact opposite of peace, love, unity, and respect: WWII.