system
Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:
human
How do you make a golden age?

I was wondering if there's any cause and effect that creates a "golden age", where output of art, science, and philosophy are heightened. Are there general government policies that, over time, foster such growth? Does a boom in the economy start off a golden age?

This came up in conversation and we were wondering what kind of variables have to align that created things like the Elizabethan Golden Age and the Athenian Golden Age.
gpt
There isn't a rigorous definition of a "Golden Age", precisely because it is not a product of the time itself, but rather of later times looking back. For example, in terms of sheer technical virtuosity, quantity of output and diversity the Hellenistic period was superior to the Athenian "classical" period, but later ages decided the Hellenistic was a degeneration of the glories of classical Athens. So it isn't a product of production, but rather one of reception.