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Anacyclosis and most (all?) other cyclical historiosophies hold that generational change leads to degeneration (n.b. almost all see a few generations in each step, not a single one like the "Hard times make..." meme, although nested models also work.) Like science, all human activity "progresses one funeral at a time". But what if you don't believe in progress? Although tyrants, in other situations ossifying at positive states could do wonders, decrease time preference and much more. A virtuous monarch at 150 years doubles his life span but increases the length of his reign far more, ditto for political members of flourishing aristocracies and energetic democracies.
This is but a straw man. The enlightenment's mechanical, universalist worldview saw the zeitgeist/overton window/fates (socioeconomic factors) driving men forward, replaceable, but slaves to history. Thomas Carlyle rejected this and began a century of hero worship when individuals break past, yea rework the gears of fate into greater human vistas (doomed to succumb to the flaws of fallen men).
But to steel-man your straw man, what value's there granting the masses electronics and the last half-century of "progress" when they yearn for the stability of the 50s? Giving the masses guardrails and a golden path to follow into happiness relieves them of the burden and pain of free choice and demonic/capitalistic/other-pejoratives temptation into squalor. Just as a beast may gorge itself to death, so too do the anarchic masses.
It's not a straw man. It's the view I hold. "If I can't be the king, then somebody should be the king." Gracious in defeat, committed to principle rather than pride.
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