Harold Ramis Dan Aykroyd on the screenplay for "Ghostbusters", which became one of the biggest comedy hits of all time, in which he also starred as Dr. Egon Spengler, a role he reprised for the 1989 sequel, "Ghostbusters II" (which he also co-wrote with Aykroyd). His later film "Groundhog Day" has been called his "masterpiece". His films have been noted for attacking "the smugness of institutional life ... with an impish good [will] that is unmistakably American". They are also noted for "Ramis's signature tongue-in-cheek pep talks". Sloppiness and improv were also important aspects of his work. Ramis frequently depicted the qualities
Oswald Spengler Oswald Spengler Oswald Arnold Gottfried Spengler (; 29 May 1880 – 8 May 1936) was a German historian and philosopher of history whose interests included mathematics, science, and art. He is best known for his book "The Decline of the West" ("Der Untergang des Abendlandes"), published in 1918 and 1922, covering all of world history. Spengler's model of history postulates that any culture is a superorganism with a limited and predictable lifespan. Spengler predicted that about the year 2000, Western civilization would enter the period of pre‑death emergency whose countering would necessitate Caesarism (extraconstitutional omnipotence of the executive branch of