阅读下列材料：
拜占廷的作用是绝对保守的。命运注定它只是保存，而不是创新。它诞生在一个古老的国度，生活在过去的势力和荣誉的阴影之中，这种势力和荣誉正是它所试图维持和恢复的。他们很少有人具有创造力。——斯塔夫里阿诺斯《全球通史》
请完成：
结合所学知识，谈谈拜占廷帝国为什么会走向衰亡。

请你运用所学知识回答下列问题：

A

    What picture do you have of the future? Will life in the future be better, worse or the same as now? What do you hope for about the future? Scientists think that life will probably be very different in 2050.

    First of all, it seems that people won't use TV channels by 2050. Instead, people will choose a program from a "menu" and a computer will send the program directly to the television.

    Water will become a very serious problem. We'll need much more water, but there won't be enough. Some scientists think that water would be the cause of war.

    Cars will run on new clean energy and they will go very fast. And there won't be any accidents with the help of computers. On the other hand, space planes will take people around the world in two hours.

   Robots will work in factories instead of people. Many factories have already used robots. Big companies prefer robots—they do not ask for money, and they work for 24 hours a day.

    In a word, by 2050, our life will change a lot and our future will be quite different from now.