The cost of the "monitoring the monitors" problem. Each new layer of management requires its own administrative support and oversight, causing a recursive cost increase that spirals rapidly.

Network Reciprocity (Martin Nowak)

• The Finding: Cooperation survives in "spatial" or "viscous" populations where cooperators form clusters (small pockets). If you mix the population thoroughly (simulating a globalized, large-scale society), defectors destroy cooperators.


• Relevance: Structure matters more than size. A large economy works only if it

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AI fundamentally shifts the point where diminishing returns to management kick in

cooperation is not a permanent state but a dynamic equilibrium that requires constant maintenance—easier to manage in small, adaptable groups than large, rigid ones.