Elon Musk Compares Modern Civilization To ‘Late Stage Empire’

Elon Musk, the wealthiest man in the world, compared modern civilization to the Roman Empire on X, the social media platform formerly known as Twitter, early Monday. And Musk used a meme to articulate the idea, of course.

“Anyone feeling late stage empire vibes?” Musk tweeted.

Musk also shared an illustration of a Roman soldier with the caption: “Watching the Roman Empire collapse again but with wifi and memes this time.”

Musk has attracted widespread attention in the past year for his social media musings ever since he bought Twitter in October 2022. Aside from changing the name of the site, the billionaire has recently promote a campaign to ban the Anti-Defamation League, defended extremely polarizing figures like Dilbert creator Scott Adams and proposed a physical fight with Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg that no longer looks like it will happen.

Musk often shares pessimistic views on the world on X, despite being a man with more wealth than most people could ever dream of attaining. Musk’s net worth is $248.7 billion, according to Forbes. The 52-year-old even suggested that the Unabomber may have been right about technology after Ted Kaczynski, the 81-year-old terrorist, died in prison back in June.

Musk has also scared off a number of advertisers from the platform, with ad revenue down at least 50% since he took over. Executives behind some of the world’s biggest brands are reportedly even scared to be seen in the same room as Musk, according to reports from earlier this year.

X has tried to turn things around by hiring NBCUniversal’s Linda Yaccarino to become CEO, a move that was meant to calm skittish advertisers. But Yaccarino has been seen largely as a figurehead as Musk makes it clear each and every day online that he’s really making the seemingly impulsive decisions at X.

X did not respond to emailed questions early Monday ET. I’ll update this post if I hear back.