Occidental unexceptionalism

I don’t find skyscraper architecture, or Material Design, or Corporate Art style for that matter, particularly inspiring. However, since I first read The Caves of Steel and Foundation by Isaac Asimov (probably the greatest, or at least the most prolific, Russian-born American writer), whence it could be seen clearly how New York became for him the template of Galactic Rome,

it always makes me wonder whether the most notable (and maybe definitive) feature of New York is absence of any official statuses; it even doesn’t bear the title of capital of the NY state. New York simply exists as an embodiment of yet another attempt to fulfill humanity’s governing evolutional goal: to create the City worth of dialogue with the stars.

And, Mr Rottersman, this by itself doesn’t guarantee any Occidental prevalence in the long run.

There was a time when Dzibilchaltún surpassed Athens by population.

There emerged another wrinkle in time, almost precisely 500 years ago, when Tenochtitlan would put Rome, Sevilla, and London to shame by public water management and participatory landscapes due to urban agricultural techniques.

If the modern US could be likened to Roman Empire instead of Republic, it will be already the late Empire, trying to deter attacks at the cost of vassals and, subsequently, border provinces. Welcome to Kabul Scuba Diving Club.

Or even an alternative construction, where Roman imperial metamorphosis failed at one of a few critical points.

There do exist another prophecies about the City reaching to the stars. Why not start from Prague, anyone?