This Big Cycle produces swings between 1) peaceful and prosperous periods of great creativity and productivity that raise living standards a lot and 2) depression, revolution, and war periods when there is a lot of fighting over wealth and power and a lot of destruction of wealth, life, and other things we cherish. I saw that the peaceful/creative periods lasted much longer than the depression/revolution/war periods, typically by a ratio of about 5:1, so one could say that the depression/revolution/war periods were transition periods between the normally peaceful/creative periods.
