> (3) Imperial decline? Where is the evidence.
All declines are relative; something new arrives and makes us realize that times have changed. One of the most interesting indexes of US decline is the inability of Hollywood to keep up with the transnational videogame culture. For all its $300 million eye candy, cliff-hopping and flying dragons, "Avatar" doesn't have one tenth of the immersiveness and thrills of "Uncharted 2".
-- DRR