In this Tuesday, November 4, 2025 lecture to his Beijing high school students, Professor Jiang explains how the Bronze Age global trade network was a proto-capitalistic system, and therefore bound to collapse hard and fast. Notes and References: 1. Debt by David Graeber 2. 1177 BC by Eric H. Cline 3. Predictably Irrational by Dan Ariely 4. "Power Causes Brain Damage" in the Atlantic Monthly: https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2017/07/power-causes-brain-damage/528711/ Please Support Professor Jiang: 1. Donate: https://buymeacoffee.com/predictivehistory 2. Subscribe: https://predictivehistory.substack.com/ 3. Follow: https://x.com/xueqinjiang