Rome, cira 300ish AD, as the Empire collapses: "could be, who knows". What an attitude! Way to go! That's the spirit that made Western Civilization great! (not!)
Why is it that the nay sayers always talk like a butcher coaxing a lamb to slaughter, or a euthanizer persuading a hospital patient to just give up and die. Methinks their intentions are less than honest, either that or they really have bought into the delusion that things today are like they always have been, and nothing has changed for the worse, ever. In which case, they are possibly one of the sheep, and not one of the butchers, not that that really matters to the rest of us.
In fact, our beginnings on this continent is one example.