The same way you tell a good one. That’s it! End of class.

Obviously, you are an expert on the topic already, and you know instantly and categorically whether an idea is good or bad. You never even feel that tiny, insignificant twinge of jealousy when someone else comes up with something clever, and you never deliberately delay a paper with a scathing review before you publish yours or undermine that peer in front of your superiors. I know you don’t do these things because you are self-aware and spot logical fallacies from miles away. Cognitive biases never influence your reasoning; you always apply sound logic and are of strong moral character: no turpitude involved of any kind. I also know that just because you know a lot about one topic, you never assume over-competence in another.

Below is a translation of a lecture given by György Spiró in 2006. Here is the original hungarian transcript and videos here and here. It explores how Rome declined and fell resulting from the spread of ideas from its periphery to the center. Superpower leaders often fail to grasp Seneca’s warning: “whom you conquer today will enslave you tomorrow,” as the nature of this “enslavement” are unpredictable and difficult to recognize in the moment. Beyond ancient Rome and its modern parallels, these dynamics are also at play in communities, corporations, and both domestic and international politics. The lessons of the past remain strikingly relevant today.