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Except that the Roman Empire didn't descend into barbarism after it fell. A good example is what happened in Britain when Rome fell; the Roman army literally packed up and moved back to Rome, leaving a tremendous power vacuum and a lot of disorganization, much like what would happen to us in this hypothetical. As a result, the people there banded together into small groups and saw to their own interests; then, the Saxons invaded from Germany with so little resistance that it was almost like they just moved in. Their cultures merged and formed a new society, the Anglo-Saxons.
We no longer call them the 'Dark Ages' (they are now properly the 'Early Middle Ages') as the image of rampant barbarism and lawlessness is misleading to say the least. Innovation, for example, continued, but it was less along the lines of the theoretical or philosophical as it was in Classical Greece and Rome, and more along the lines of the practical, such as pattern welded steel and architectural advancements. There were despots and brutal monarchs, of course (it was, after all, medieval times), but it wasn't nearly so uncivilized as many think. We would be able to expect much the same.
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