Doubling Down in Theoretical Physics and Geopolitics

Physical scales range from $10^{-18}$ to $10^{22}$ meter about 40 orders of magnitude. 

The US Empire is now collapsing in front of our eyes along with the rest of the West, while the East/South is taking over supported by 90% of the world population. Doubling down by printing more dollar does not seem to work any more. No even the entry of Sweden into NATO will help out.

Geopolitical power is exercised through economical and military power resting on technology based on mathematics and physics.  

The rise of West came with the scientific revolution initiated by Galileo, Descartes, Leibniz, Newton, Euler from a new idea of God as mathematician or theoretical physicist creating a Universe governed by natural laws of mathematical form, like the inverse square law of gravitation. This propelled the West to World domination with the power shifting from Europe to US after WW2. 

The development of the atomic bomb by scientists gathered in US from Europe during WW2 boosted the self-confidence of US theoretical physicists of the 1950-70s into exploration of ever smaller atomic scales in search for a Theory of Everything uncovering God's ultimate mathematical trick. But God showed to be too smart and unsurmountable problems had to be met by doubling down. Here is a time line for physics on ever smaller scales in each new step leaving the old problems unsolved: 

• Faced with difficulties of extending classical deterministic physics to the microscopics of atoms,  theoretical physicists doubled down in the 1920s by presenting Quantum Mechanics as a new form of probabilistic physics on scales of size $10^{-10}$ meter.
• Faced with seemingly unsolvable foundational problems of Quantum Mechanics, theoretical physicists doubled down in the 1950s by presenting Quantum Field Theory as a new form of physics on sub-atomic scales of size $10^{-18}$ meter. 
• Faced with seemingly unsolvable foundational problems of Quantum Field Theory,  theoretical physicist doubled down in the 1970s by developing String Theory as a new form of physics on sub-sub-atomic scales of size $10^{-32}$ meter.

Here is corresponding time line for relativity theory on ever larger scales: 

• Faced with an apparent absence of an aether as a physical medium for the propagation of light, Einstein seeking to get an academic position as physicist in 1905,  decided to change the classical Euclidean/Newtonian concepts of space and time into a new concept of space-time in a new Special Theory of Relativity.
• Faced with questions from leading physicists, which he could not answer, Einstein doubled down by extending to a new General Theory of Relativity.  
• Faced with new questions, Einstein doubled down restricting his theories to the whole Universe making experimental falsification impossible.    

Today the doubling down has come to an end in a theoretical physics troubled by seemingly unsolvable problems. It is not possible to double down to smaller scales nor to larger scales. Theoretical physics of the West has come to a dead end. 

Or can AI help by doubling and redoubling human intelligence? See also this post.

Is it possible that this is the true reason that the geopolitical power of the West is now collapsing?

PS Doubling down in mathematics can take the form of higher level of abstraction. The problem that the square root of two is not a rational number, which destroyed the Pythagorean mathematical school, could eventually be handled in the 19th century by introducing a new more abstract concept of real number, which was then repeatedly doubled down into vast Hilbert spaces capable of housing the quantum mechanical wave function for the whole Universe.