> The problems only start once the "tribe" grows beyond 150. The problems also start when there's a potentially extremely large, but uncertain to happen, rewar

> The problems only start once the "tribe" grows beyond 150. The problems also start when there's a potentially extremely large, but uncertain to happen, reward looming over the horizon. In crude terms, when there's a huge money bag that everyone could potentially snap up. Then all sorts of perverse incentives start to manifest. I'm thinking of stereotypical Wall St. companies, and also of many Silicon Valley "startups" in recent years. The no-leader scenario is stable when everyone is looking forward to having a regular job as a middle class citizen. It's also stable when EVERYONE is motivated by ideals other than money - great scientific breakthrough, big humanitarian cause, etc. That's when people cooperate with each other easily, there's the rule of the law, civilization as we understand it. But when huge piles of money could potentially materialize on the table, things revert to a much more primal state.