I also think the flat v. hierarchy is pointless. In my experience, people are to some extent naturally hierarchical in their social structures. If you don't agr

I also think the flat v. hierarchy is pointless. In my experience, people are to some extent naturally hierarchical in their social structures. If you don't agree - think about an argument on some implementation detail that has dragged on for hours, days, maybe weeks. People are begging "Will somebody just call it already?" There is an efficiency in having somebody who knows when and how to call it. That is a form of hierarchy. Look at an open source project - the ultimate decentralization case - and yet 99% of the time there are one or more alpha geeks. That is a form of hierarchy. The fact that it arises spontaneously and is consensual does not make it less so. The problem with hierarchy generally is not in the concept - it is in the implementation, and its poor scalability. [Disclaimer: I herd geeks for a living. I get to call it. That does not mean I think I am better than my coders, nor that I know more than them, nor that I should be paid more. I like to think I am an asset to them].