Stagnation

In any complicated system, a simple overall path is almost uniformly followed: grow, stagnate, decay, die. This applies not just to organic life like people, hedgehogs, fungi, etc., but also to computer systems, networks, groups of people, countries, cities, states, and schools of thought. Such is life. You are born, you grow until your physical peak, you stagnate a bit, looking over the edge of the cliff, and then you decline until your demise. I know it's somewhat of a cliché to say, but looking at the world around us, it is clear that the USA has been in a decline ever since the the 70's. Don't get me wrong, technology brought us quite a second wind for a minute there, yet somehow we've never fully shaken off that slow sinking feeling. We're still an economic superpower in the world right now, but for how long? India and China not only have an increasing share of our manual labor jobs, they have rapidly growing economies that are influencing the world by greater and greater amounts. This is not something to be ignored. Recently, a Chinese fisherman and his crew were put on trial by the Japanese government (http://www.japantoday.com/category/crime/view/chinese-fishing-boat-captain-sent-to-prosecutors-over-collision) and the Chinese government had quite a lot to say about the Japan's detainment of a fishing boat that had crashed into some Japanese patrol boats. Among countries with equal international support, this would come down to a bargaining game, but in the end, the Japanese had to give up the fishermen to China. This is an important point. China's powers in the international community are steadily growing, while America's (and resultantly, Japan's) are growing ever more insignificant.