Out of the mouths of babes (Bobbie@The Expanse/S05E04): "Rats only live a few years. In the wild, it's rare that they die of old age, and when they do, they go out hard. Lots of tumors, usually."
For some reason, this blurb resonated with me, making me think of the current US situation, and then more generally of life in general, or empires in particular. Also, an image of a spin top also came to mind: at first it spins very smoothly, then it gets wobblier and wobblier until it quickly gets chaotic and stops. A 2d image would be a sinusoidal wave that is quite regular at first but it gets more chaotic in time with wilder and wilder swings.
For some reason, this blurb resonated with me, making me think of the current US situation, and then more generally of life in general, or empires in particular. Also, an image of a spin top also came to mind: at first it spins very smoothly, then it gets wobblier and wobblier until it quickly gets chaotic and stops. A 2d image would be a sinusoidal wave that is quite regular at first but it gets more chaotic in time with wilder and wilder swings.