Europe's alleged obsolescence

When I arrived in the United States, I did a little bit of exploring of the town I resided in, as anyone does when they move to a new place. I remember taking a picture of a house(?), storage unit(?), office(?) - but, it was constructed using what looked like corrugated metal, with a single entrance at the front. I titled the picture "Obsolete", because it was the only one I came across that day like it. Maybe there are others, I don't know.

In my About me page, I talked about how I lived in Europe for a while, during my informative years; I have to say, the idiom "old habits die hard" is really true. Despite having lived in the US for the same duration as I did Europe, I still find myself tending towards the patterns of my yonder years. It doesn't bother me usually, apart from when I begin to feel so far away from a place I once thought of as home.

To get to the point, the political developments over the last decade has reshuffled things a bit. Brexit - a massive indicator to the world that Britain was choosing to distance itself from the rest of Europe. Refugee crises. Germany closing down it's nuclear power plants. The US involving themselves less in European issues. Leaders around the world increasing their political capital. From all this, the comments being made are along the lines of what sounds like the phasing out of Europe. I am not sure it is entirely possible to phase out an entire continent? It probably is the case that Europe - at least Western Europe - does not have the same political influence or bargaining power, as it once did up until the 1900s. Perhaps that was to be somewhat expected. However, because it colonised the way it did, Europe won't be obsolete. Certain European practices and viewpoints might become obsolete because they are incompatible with modernity - as with any culture of any geographical region. The practitioners of the olde incongruent ways might want to brace for impact, or move out of the way. Although I don't believe Europe will see the same fate as that of cottage industries.

In any case, AI and robotics have developed at a rapid pace, countries around the world are modernising quickly and being competitive while doing so. The new groups must accept the existence of the groups informed by the elders, and vice versa. The concept of co-existence isn't about conceding defeat, but rather accepting reality and everyone making their lives less stressful by adapting to the change.