Does a Closed Frontier Lead to Decadence?

On Ross Douthat and Cultural Sclerosis

Ross Douthat writes in his new book, The Decadent Society, that a decadent culture can be defined as one that is bored, sclerotic, repetitive; one where people feel that they are at the end of their ambition and have little left to strive for. The subtitle of his book is How We Became Victims of Our Own Success. Let’s leave aside the question of whether we are a decadent society and how one might test the claim and focus on an observation that Douthat makes in his opening:

For Douthat, the closing of the frontier coincides with—and possibly causes—a sense that there is nothing left to explore.

But this raises an ambiguity: is the way out of decadence to seek out and find new frontiers? Or is decadence simply a function of the set of frontiers available, as if they were an objectively limited good? In an infinite universe, there are infinite frontiers; thus, decadence is an attitude. In a finite universe, there are finite frontiers; thus, decadence is an environmental fact, like pollution, a condition.

Said differently, are there fewer “expeditions” today because ours is a less ambitious and adventurous culture or because there are fewer “new worlds” and “gold rushes” to motivate us?

Douthat dates the American condition of decadence to the last Apollo expedition. The turn from “outer space” to “wellness” and inner wellbeing reflects a pull away from the marvelous to the micro-.

What do you make of the thesis? What’s wrong with being a victim of success? Does biotech innovation—propelled by Covid—offer the opportunity for a new frontier?

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