When 27 years old or so I read the Satyricon by Petronius, translated from the original Latin. It is a satire describing the psycho-sexual decadence of the ancient Roman empire at the height of its power. Even then the writing was on the wall for our society for those who could bear to let themselves understand what was really going on, and I remember thinking “We’re going down the same road. In 100-200 years or so we’ll be the same — glad I won’t be around to see it”. Having now seen this story three decades later I can assure you all that we are already there, way ahead of the original estimate.