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Volume 14Can we determine the average length of an empire/commonwealth/superpower’s reign?
Listener question & Gary’s response · Transcript passage
Derrin Brown asks Can we determine the average length of an empire/commonwealth/superpower’s reign?
Yes, you can, but there is a problem with the question. You can get an average from almost any dataset. You can get an average from random numbers.
However, I’m not sure that such an average would be meaningful. Each empire existed with its own logic and forces that caused its rise and fall.
Pharaonic Egypt lasted through 33 different dynasties over thousands of years. Nazi German lasted a little more than a decade. The Soviet Union existed for only 74 years.
Moreover, technologies have changed dramatically, rendering whatever lessons we could learn rather moot.
So, yet you can calculate an average, but I’m not sure that it is meaningful.
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