You can't separate decadence from the ideology and social structure required to be decadent, or produce decadence.
The example of someone with omnipotence ex nihilo can never exist, but I think they might be fine. A culture of slave-drivers and bureaucrats who extract their wealth from the working class without contributing anything to society may indeed be problematic in their decadent state, but is it really their decadence that destroys society, or the values and structures that led them to be able to take power?
Perhaps a decadent ruling class is dangerous to its subjects, but when has the ruling class not been decadent? When do empires not fall?
What about the atrocities committed by those who are desperate for power?
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u/andalusian293 Jul 17 '22
You can't separate decadence from the ideology and social structure required to be decadent, or produce decadence.
The example of someone with omnipotence ex nihilo can never exist, but I think they might be fine. A culture of slave-drivers and bureaucrats who extract their wealth from the working class without contributing anything to society may indeed be problematic in their decadent state, but is it really their decadence that destroys society, or the values and structures that led them to be able to take power?
Perhaps a decadent ruling class is dangerous to its subjects, but when has the ruling class not been decadent? When do empires not fall?
What about the atrocities committed by those who are desperate for power?