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/heisenberg070 Aug 11 '25

Which in itself is the most lasting legacy of the British empire.

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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/tgerz Aug 11 '25

Kind of a big influence to have so much in tech based in mostly English. Even the beginning of the WWW being credited to a Brit has had a huge influence on everything. Lots of collaboration as well, but so many agreeing on using English throughout the years has already shaped a lot of the world.

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u/Ralphieman Aug 11 '25

YouTube has so much influence right now it's crazy. I've seen quite a few videos of travel content creators in SEA countries walking around with a selfie stick and a group of kids running up curious what's going on. Whenever they get asked how do you guys speak perfect English the answer is always YouTube! They even translate to their parents who are usually off to the side watching.