Sublime
An inspiration engine for ideas
Are we overproducing elites and instability? - Niskanen Center
niskanencenter.org
On Europe’s Inner Asian frontier, demographic expansion long seemed as hobbled as it was in mainland North America until the 1750s.
John Darwin • After Tamerlane: The Rise and Fall of Global Empires, 1400-2000
Historian Peter Turchin illuminates this possibility with his theory of “elite overproduction.” When societies generate more elite aspirants than there are roles to fill, competition for status intensifies. Ambitious but frustrated people grow disillusioned and radicalized. Rather than integrate into institutions, they seek to undermine them.... See more
These data make a strong case that, as human social networks grow, they necessarily lead to systems that require fewer resources per person, and produce more per person. In other words, the benefits of scale for human groups have always been there.
Jessica C. Flack • Worlds Hidden in Plain Sight: The Evolving Idea of Complexity at the Santa Fe Institute, 1984–2019 (Compass)
I had no idea how wild the story of human evolution was before chatting with the geneticist of ancient DNA David Reich.
Human history has been again and again a story of one group figuring ‘something’ out, and then basically wiping everyone else out.
From the tribe of 1k-10k modern humans... See more
Dwarkesh Patelx.com