I'm going to bring one sentence to immediate attention that could save us. 5 minutes, 29 seconds:

Material wealth breeds defensive positions. As people have something to lose and are weary of risking too much.

With the advent of digital material, an object lacking the physical, it brings a new factor that the world has never considered before. Could "Ready Player One" change the way we view material wealth? Come into my home, burn it all to the ground, and leave me with scraps. If I can go to the store, pay $5000 for a VR Suit, my house is eternally protected from the physical. My wealth is digital, and cannot be removed by force. My pet is digital and requires no medical visits. I could live in the crappiest RV, but inside that helmet I live in the palace of palaces that would have made Emperors blush. What is the real? Touch? Smell? Taste? If you can see it and hear it, you're already halfway there.

If government leaned into advanced VR as a way to placate the poor you could delay the collapse by several decades easily.

To some, this is a dystopia where people have willingly surrendered their rights in the real world for falsities.

For others, it would be utopia, and the law outside means nothing, so long as the paradise inside remains free.

It is something to consider while listening to this video. New technology has changed the way empires fall before. It will continue too.