The first two decades of the 20th century saw the end of the great colonial empires of Europe; the average British of French citizen from 1900-10 wouldn’t have believed you if you had described to him what Britain, France, and the world, would be like in the 1930s, 1950s, etc.

I think it is clear that the same thing is occurring now with respect to the American “empire” which is collapsing as we live through it, and I doubt we can even imagine what the geopolitical situation will be like in, say, 2050.