First you have to ask yourself what time period and in what extent the "Dark Ages" took place. I don't subscribe to the belief that it was quite as bad as most people think. For instance, you do have a few renaissance's that take place, probably most notably the Carolingian Renaissance. Yes, the Western portion of the Roman Empire completely collapsed and engineering and economies more or less collapsed as well. But at the same time you're ignoring the Byzantine Empire which survived almost the entirety of the time frame referred to as the Dark Ages. Meanwhile even further east you have the Islamic Golden Age occurring during which huge strides where made in the sciences, namely medicine. Sorry for the history lesson, but while one area might be experiencing a "Dark Age" due to the collapse of an Empire, many other areas are flourishing. I think that in the Early Middle Ages especially, the general disarray (hah) that took place following the collapse of the Western Roman Empire prevented advances being made elsewhere from coming in from elsewhere. In today's world I can't see such a thing happening, at least not easily. Everything seems to be far more interconnected a globalized, and it would take at the least a regional collapse to even think of such a thing.
Point taken, but note that I did use the plural. Many nations in Africa or South America have been/are in what may someday be considered Dark Ages. Hell, Iraq and Afghanistan might be too. I don't think my statement particularly ignored anything. Perhaps I should elaborate on my fairly flip comment. The gist of what I was thinking about was, what will it take for the metaphorical Visigoths or Vandals to sack "Rome?" Let's say that the Orwellian future Assange envisions at the hands of Google or another entity really does happen. What will be the last straw? It seems like the very idea of revolution is losing power. So what will it take for the next dramatic shift in circumstances? What will it take for people en masse to react, particularly if an entity takes steps to understand and manage revolutions or uprisings?
Good point, I'm not a very big fan of the term Dark Ages. The last straw will likely be too late but it will be when enough people start to identify that something is wrong beyond a simple fix, and that we have all been hurt by it. Or if something like what's currently happening in Turkey were to happen. But looking just at "major" 1st world countries such as the United States, Canada, most of Western Europe, etc. it will probably take much longer to reach that point. Things may not be great in these countries, but they are certainly better than Turkey or Africa and until we reach something like that, or more economic busts (maybe Student loans?) we won't see that last straw.It seems like the very idea of revolution is losing power.
Between the Arab Spring, Syrian Revolution (at least the start of it), and what's currently happening in Turkey I would have to disagree with you. As an additional note, the Egyptian Supreme Court ruled against the law that formed the parliament, and also ruled that the body that formed the constitution was illegal. It will be interesting to see if we have an Egyptian Revolution 2.0, depending on how the politicians react to this. Meanwhile, many parts of Africa are constantly in a rebellion, revolution, or other armed conflict.
When people enough people identify with start getting hurt? Activists, minorities and hackers are easy enough to portray as scary others.What will it take for people en masse to react, particularly if an entity takes steps to understand and manage revolutions or uprisings?