This is tangential to an idea I have been pondering for almost a decade. I had a thought experiment of a Pharaoh on a procession exactly like the one described

This is tangential to an idea I have been pondering for almost a decade. I had a thought experiment of a Pharaoh on a procession exactly like the one described in this article. As the Pharaoh is carried in a litter on the shoulders of servants the entire population lines the streets and bows to the Pharaoh as he passes. I thought about: why does each person bow? Maybe some bow because they are scared of the soldiers. Maybe some bow because they want to look like a good citizen. Maybe some bow because they believe the Pharaoh is a literal God. That is, everyone bows for a different reason. The idea that stands out to me is that the Pharaoh doesn't care why any individual bows. The collective effect of each person bowing is somehow independent from the individual reasons for each person to bow. To me, this strikes at a slightly deeper meaning than "common knowledge". Because the knowledge isn't collective in one sense (I don't know the reasons my neighbors are bowing) but it is collective in another sense (we are all participating in the worship of a single figure).