Hierarchies are in and of themselves stupid. If you think they exist naturally, you're only looking at one of thousands of independent variables. If you averag

Hierarchies are in and of themselves stupid. If you think they exist naturally, you're only looking at one of thousands of independent variables. If you average them out, we all tend towards mediocrity. When someone appeals to hierarchies (e.g., "there's always a bigger fish"), they're just admitting to using a painfully one-dimensional worldview.