The mechanisms by which civilizations grow, stagnate, collapse and recover have fascinated people since at least the ancient Greek philosophers.

Civilizations initially grow because they make life better for the average citizen. Cooperation leads to more reliable food and more babies survive to make more babies.

After some time some stressors on the civilization lead to widespread conflict. Historically this have been linked mostly to famine and plagues. Economic instability can also lead to a civilizations segmentation and conflict. The “fall of civilizations” is historically the segmentation of large civilizations into smaller entities as people rally around a local leader who promises them the “right” things.

So what’s happening right now - a shit ton of stressors.

Birth rates are negative in most industrialized nations. This indicates that on a widespread basis, globally people do not feel that they have the resources to raise kids.

Climate change is triggering serious fears of famine. This is why denying the obvious heat increases is so popular. “Oh no, it’s not the hottest and dryest summer on record. Our crops are hunky doey.”

Plagues - Well COVID happened and triggered a lot of widespread fear. That disease is still seen as a curse from the supernatural for most humans instead of a biological inevitability was made crystal clear.

Wars - stealing someone else’s resources looks pretty good when you fear there is not enough resources to go around. “It’s too hot in the U.S. to grow crops, let’s invade Canada and steal Greenland!”

So humans are doing what they have always done when stressed. Look for someone who looks like a “strong leader” who can make things right in their world again.

Please, small penises require an F350 at least. A F450 for a penis so small you need to tie a string to it to find it.

I am self-employed running my own business. Honestly other than about 4 weeks of harder work, I am basically on my own doing whatever I feel like.

When I retire, well I have an idea for another business. I would need to relocate someplace tropical and hire 2 or 3 people to work for me. I doubt it would ever make much money, but it would be fun.

Education and work experience are the first things that prosecutors look at to remove people. Our judicial system is based upon the ability of the lawyers get the jurors to agree to their argument, not to evaluate fact or fiction. The more educated or experienced a person is, the more work it takes to win the argument.

For example I got the impression that the prosecutors main evidence was DNA. Proving that it is or is not someone’s DNA can get very complicated quickly. The average person has no idea about these complications. So an “expert” testimony that omits addressing these complications is perfectly.

I have traveled a little bit.

Larger predators: Grizzly bears, black bears, cougers, jaguars, lynx, alligators, crocodiles, and a few different species of sharks.

Mid sized predator like coyotes, foxes, badgers, and even a wolverines I run across more frequently.

I have been called up to jury duty in a few states now and once in federal court. Probably 10 times in total.

When I was traveling all the time, I was usually out of the country on the weeks when they wanted me for a trial. I deferred an few times and eventually was excused without showing up.

The couple of times I was called into the jury selection:

Once I was excused because the trial was supposed to last 3 weeks and I was traveling the next week.

Another time I was excused when the prosecutor asked me about my work and education experience. He puckered up real hard when I mentioned I had worked in statistics and genetics and requested I be excused. It was pretty comical to be honest. Apparently

The federal court was a bit different. The court was a 6 hour drive away. My kids were young at the time and I was permanently excused on the questionnaire because I had minors to take care of. The questionnaire was pretty intense too.

My wife finally got her first summons this past week.