Comments on: The Increment

By: Timothy Burke

Timothy Burke — Mon, 12 Jan 2015 19:37:31 +0000

They don’t really, not exactly–and at least some of that is Balalkrishnan’s interpretation of their argument. But they do take Rome and Empire as being very similar, that globalization today has “changed the rules” of the world system sufficiently that it is the only fact that matters–in the same way, they argue, that in the Mediterranean, Rome was the fact that shaped all other facts even for non-Romans.

By: Doug

Doug — Mon, 12 Jan 2015 15:36:19 +0000

I’m doing a lot of work right now near medical research, and a phrase that’s common there is “mechanism of action.” How does the compound do what it appears to do?

In politics, there are increments here and increments there, but people proposing them should at least have an idea of what the mechanism of action is or could be. How does the proposed action lead toward the desired state? What’s the mechanism of action?

By: jfruh

jfruh — Fri, 09 Jan 2015 21:48:14 +0000

I never read Empire, but they don’t try to claim that Christianity undid the Roman Empire, do they? Because that’s … that’s not true at all. If anything, the Roman elite managed to capture and assimilate Christianity. The Roman Empire persevered for 150 years in the West after becoming officially Christian, and more than 1,000 years in the East.

(Sorry, a small point of fact, but it irritates!)