How Advanced was Ancient Egypt?

The ancient Egyptians are a fascinating civilization. If they were able to build the great pyramids that still stand thousands of years later, they must have been highly intelligent and advanced in knowledge. Perhaps they were even more intelligent and advanced than we are now. After all, have we built anything that will last as long as their pyramids already have?

Then again, we could build the great pyramid today…if we devoted enough manpower towards it. But that wouldn’t be a smart allocation of time and resources. Which is perhaps why the ancient Egyptian civilization collapsed. They wasted all their time and energy on building giant pyramids rather than on science, medicine, and mitigation of existential risk.

Humans today are guilty of as much if not more waste of time and resources on things that are fleeting and will not even result in an imprint as lasting as megalithic pyramids, such as reality TV, sports, and arguing on Twitter. So perhaps the Egyptians were smarter than us after all. We may be on the road to inevitable collapse—and what do we have to show for it? McDonald's golden arches and theme park roller coasters? We build things as cheaply as possible, then a couple decades later tear them down to build another cheap disposable building.

Egyptian civilization collapsed, but at least their art and architecture is still standing. If Western civilization collapses, 5,000 years from now there will be nothing left to show we existed and mattered. Our art, culture, and scientific knowledge will turn to dust.