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"dictatorship is the default human civilization" definitely needs a citation. Many historical societies had one person at the top, but a bunch of several rich a

"dictatorship is the default human civilization" definitely needs a citation. Many historical societies had one person at the top, but a bunch of several rich and powerful people with non-trivial ability to veto things / influence policy. I'd guess that an oligarchy where these people take turns to be the top guy and still retain some control when they're not on top is a fairly common pattern.

randomdata 5y ago
In that respect, the mention of family made earlier is also really more like an oligarchy. One member may have the final say (historically the man of the house), but other members of the family (notably said man's wife, historically speaking), can wield power to try and sway the opinion. That distinction from dictatorship may not be all that significant.
pbhjpbhj 5y ago
It's difficult to determine who is at the top, like in the UK. Who are the principle people who control PM Johnson? There's the royal family, but without resources of the secret service it's impossible to know who he's taking direction from. There are occasional glimpses: connection of Russian money to Brexit, delay of the Russia Report, delay of sanctions against oligarchs showing them to handle their finances before sanctions take effect, etc., but that's one small block, I suspect. Clearly there's heavy interplay with media tycoons. But really it's all pretty opaque.
- jen20 5y ago
  > Who are the principle people who control PM Johnson? The editors of the Daily Mail and The Sun, donors like the Elliotts, and whoever has financial kompromat.
  - javajosh 5y ago
    There are far too few technologists in that list. Twitter, for example, certainly drives the decisions of politicians these days; politicians perceive it a pretty good substitute for polling, for better or worse, and have the donations to prove it.
    - jen20 5y ago
      I'd imagine politicians only care about it because the media may report on it.
azemetre 5y ago
Yeah I disagree with this. There was a line in Sapiens (I'm forgetting which chapter) but most of humanity during civilization have lived in Empires. Maybe you can construe the definition of Empire to be a dictator but I don't think that's fair.

randomdata 5y ago

In that respect, the mention of family made earlier is also really more like an oligarchy. One member may have the final say (historically the man of the house), but other members of the family (notably said man's wife, historically speaking), can wield power to try and sway the opinion. That distinction from dictatorship may not be all that significant.

pbhjpbhj 5y ago

It's difficult to determine who is at the top, like in the UK. Who are the principle people who control PM Johnson? There's the royal family, but without resources of the secret service it's impossible to know who he's taking direction from. There are occasional glimpses: connection of Russian money to Brexit, delay of the Russia Report, delay of sanctions against oligarchs showing them to handle their finances before sanctions take effect, etc., but that's one small block, I suspect. Clearly there's heavy interplay with media tycoons. But really it's all pretty opaque.

jen20 5y ago
> Who are the principle people who control PM Johnson? The editors of the Daily Mail and The Sun, donors like the Elliotts, and whoever has financial kompromat.
- javajosh 5y ago
  There are far too few technologists in that list. Twitter, for example, certainly drives the decisions of politicians these days; politicians perceive it a pretty good substitute for polling, for better or worse, and have the donations to prove it.
  - jen20 5y ago
    I'd imagine politicians only care about it because the media may report on it.

azemetre 5y ago

Yeah I disagree with this. There was a line in Sapiens (I'm forgetting which chapter) but most of humanity during civilization have lived in Empires. Maybe you can construe the definition of Empire to be a dictator but I don't think that's fair.