European civilization (n.) spread across the globe as a plague because Europeans had centuries of practice killing one another and arrived abroad expert at it.
Greek civilization (n.) began with the arrival of foreigners, and the Greeks kept that debt alive in their myths.
Roman civilization (n.) looked to Rabbi Shimeon like pure calculation: roads, bridges and baths built for the builders' own sake.
Technical civilization (n.) wins every inch of space and pays for it in time, the one ingredient of life it cannot manufacture.