Age of Prosperity
Period in history from approximately 1950 to 2030 A.D. characterized by vast growth in the global economy as a result of capitalism.
During this time technology expanded faster than ever before, and living standards for most of humankind improved. It was a very materialistic age, with the worth of a person being measured in their wealth and a consumerist ideology which promoted purchasing goods to gain status.
However, the capitalist system powering this tremendous progress contained the seeds of its own destruction: the paradigm of infinite growth on a finite planet was an inherent impossibility and soon led to unsustainable levels of resource use and pollution. Profiteering elites prevented any remedial action and monopolized wealth on an epic scale: at one point less than ten people held more wealth than 90% of the planet's population.
The end of the Age of Prosperity was a gradual decline in living standards leaving each new generation worse off than its parents, punctuated by the occasional war or famine driven by the impacts of climate change, culminating in the final Collapse of Old World civilization.
During this time technology expanded faster than ever before, and living standards for most of humankind improved. It was a very materialistic age, with the worth of a person being measured in their wealth and a consumerist ideology which promoted purchasing goods to gain status.
However, the capitalist system powering this tremendous progress contained the seeds of its own destruction: the paradigm of infinite growth on a finite planet was an inherent impossibility and soon led to unsustainable levels of resource use and pollution. Profiteering elites prevented any remedial action and monopolized wealth on an epic scale: at one point less than ten people held more wealth than 90% of the planet's population.
The end of the Age of Prosperity was a gradual decline in living standards leaving each new generation worse off than its parents, punctuated by the occasional war or famine driven by the impacts of climate change, culminating in the final Collapse of Old World civilization.
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