Is there any real difference between a civilization and an empire? I hated that question when I first thought of it. I grew up thinking, “civilization good, empire bad.”

If you’re “civilized,” you’re nice. You’re polite. You don’t behave like a barbarian. If you’re an “imperialist,” you’re dominating, taking more than your fair share. Who could be more evil than Caligula, or the Emperor Palpatine?

Civilization has to be a good thing, doesn’t it? You don’t let yourself think otherwise if you live in one, do you? After all, my life depends on it. I take prescription medicines. I’ve had life-saving surgery. Take away all that stuff, I won’t last long.

But when you boil it down, you’re still talking about one thing: A vain attempt to defeat entropy. To grow forever and last forever. I didn’t want to believe that when I first thought of it.

Doesn’t matter what I think though. All towers fall. All systems fail. Build it too high, it will fail spectacularly.

That’s the true meaning of the Tower of Babel myth. It’s not where all the languages of the world originated. It’s a warning about hubris and entropy. Nobody could talk to each other, so the building project stopped.

Kinda like how it is online right now isn’t it? Ever notice how we seem to talk right past each other? How we can’t agree on basic definitions? The arguments I see might be mostly in English, but as citizens of a civilization we’re supposed to be building together, it kinda seems like we’re all speaking different languages doesn’t it?