Many of us know of the brutality of life under empire, although we perhaps underestimate just how bad it could be. Armed men rounding up women to sell them into slavery or public crucifixions are today seen with dismay when done by the Islamic State in Syria and Iraq but, as the historian Walter Scheidel observed, these were a normal sight in Rome during its peak.
There are various reasons why collapse could benefit human welfare. States often demanded tax in the form of grain. Without tax collectors passing by, people often had more to eat. More than that, without the pressure to grow tax crops, they often diversified their diet to include more animal protein, which beget stronger bones. A flight away from cities towards rural areas also meant less circulation of infectious disease. Finally, a more complex reason in at least some cases is a survivor effect. Some collapses did lead to population declines: sometimes death (which was obviously bad for those citizens) but, as we’ll see later, also because people moved.
Collapse is the solution ? Not the problem... aside from 1%
I have no idea but thought I'd throw out that, as a 58yr old cis white guy I've never been lonely in my life, i have literally no idea what that's like and don't get involved in hypotheses about it all because I have nothing to bring to the debate. I do find human behaviour interesting (and mostly bizzare) though.
The more time I spend with people the more I crave being alone but that's a different thing.
I now live on the edge of a tiny village in the middle of no where Australia and lived in a small cottage off grid in the bush for 10 years previously bit alos loved in an apartment in the sky in a largish city.
One thing I noticed, I found the car free existence ina city bought me into contact with people all the time, even walking you'd see people people and say hello. Stop at a crossing and have a small conversation occasionally etc. i even said hello to women and was never called a pervert ;)