Pioneer societies have no time to mess around, and no time for nonsense. Humans have infested almost every corner of the globe, and have no more room for expansion, because Antarctica isn't melting fast enough, and the space folks dragged their feet for too many years after Apollo for either option to act as a release valve. So the only thing to do is collapse and die back for a while; the survivors will be tougher, no-nonsense sorts. The problem is, the higher the technology, the harder the fall. But it's not "degeneracy" that's the symptom of a problem, it's the proliferation of separatist movements. And the weirdo cults and the like are their own kind of separatists, who might strike out to found their own land if they could find land that wasn't owned already ......

Hell, the best things to happen to the poor European were the Black Death and the discovery of new lands ...

Pioneer societies have no time to mess around, and no time for nonsense. Humans have infested almost every corner of the globe, and have no more room for expansion, because Antarctica isn't melting fast enough, and the space folks dragged their feet for too many years after Apollo for either option to act as a release valve. So the only thing to do is collapse and die back for a while; the survivors will be tougher, no-nonsense sorts. The problem is, the higher the technology, the harder the fall. But it's not "degeneracy" that's the symptom of a problem, it's the proliferation of separatist movements.