There are a few centuries and a lot of decline between those.

That is the point - the Brits were able to force the matter. If you aren't up-to-date on technology, specifically military tech, you're going to have matters like this forced upon you. Que the Ukraine giving up the nukes (and later getting rid of even non-nuclear missiles).

If your lesson from history is that hubris works, then that's very interesting.

Ironically, the most drug liberal places in the world, i.e. Silicon Valley, are the source of what this article talks about, productivity gains!

You just need the right drugs, in this case, Psychedelics.