text: A scientist has warned Britain is facing a collapse in society similar to ancient Rome - because we've lived too peacefully for too long. Australian historian Dr Jim Penman claims Britons today have lost the drive for innovation that epitomised the Victorian era as we enjoy a more comfortable standard of living. He has drawn parallels between modern-day Britain and 100BC in Rome - when the city was at its most powerful as it captured more land overseas and greater wealth poured into the centre. Historian Dr Jim Penman has drawn a parallel between the Roman Empire in 100BC - when Julius Caesar, pictured, was ruler - and Britan today, warning this country is heading for a similar collapse in society . Dr Jim Penman (left) has suggested Britons have lost the biological drive for innovation that helped huge social, economic and industrial changes during the Victorian era, ruled over by Queen Victoria (right) However over subsequent centuries there was a rise in social divisions, inequality and political tensions - which resulted in its demise. Making the comparison Dr Penman said: 'It was a time when democracy was moving towards despotism and in Britain we are now see that politics is becoming much more about individuals rather than political parties. The two-party system has started to break down',The Sunday Telegraph reports. 'We live in a golden age where there have been no major wars in Europe for three quarters of a century. But the economy is stagnating and we're having fewer children. 'And once European countries can no longer defend themselves, the end of national independence cannot be long delayed.' Dr Penman, of the RMIT University in Melbourne, made the claims in his book 'Biohistory: Decline and Fall of the West', and adds that Christianity helped drive social change in Britain which transformed the roles of women and children . Civilisations move in 'cycles' dependent on factors such as food supply, religion and conflict, while epigenetics - a field of study within DNA - explains how people's attitudes and temperament change over time and thus shape society, he argues. 'The First World War had an epigenetic effect in that mothers made anxious by the war gave birth to an unusually aggressive generation which was the main cause of the Second World War', he writes. 'But now we are becoming a lot less warlike and much more reluctant to fight. People no longer want to join the Army, or become engineers. People would rather do arts degrees.'
target: Dr Penman argues British people have lived too peacefully to innovate .
  Rising inequality and division will lead to a collapse in society, he warns .
  Adaption of genes means we are less aggressive or likely to go to war .