I think we’re actually making the same point but you offer a very helpful angle. I suppose it’s not so much the population size but the closeness of connection.

I think we’re actually making the same point but you offer a very helpful angle. I suppose it’s not so much the population size but the closeness of connection. Go back 40 years, and it was possible for you to be anonymous living both far out in the woods, or amongst the crowd of a huge city. In a small town, though, everyone knows everyone. The internet is bringing everyone closer together and stripping us of our anonymity and privacy. There are tremendous benefits of this, but there are also costs. The close connection means that people now know about all kinds of things they simply couldn’t have in past generations. Culture clashes spanning the planet happen every day now, but 40 years ago that was just not something most people would ever experience. I think the close connection creates conflict, and as conflict escalates more and more people reach their tipping point where they would rather the state come in and suppress the conflict via law and regulation. It’s hard to live and let live when the people who offend you are in your face. It’s a big challenge for our era, and I imagine the history books will have a lot to say about how world civilization changed as a result.