It's a bitter pill to give up your childhood faith in the Myth of 1776. Moldbug warned us that the pill slits open and the sodium core burns as it goes down.

...but it makes perfect sense that an elite will always be in power

I remember reading a brief article 20 or 30 yrs ago

2/

asking "why do planets and moons spin?"

and the answer was an appeal to statistics - there are a ton more items in a random distribution of momentums that equate to "spinning" than equate to "not spinning".
3/

Planets and moons are formed by the coallescence, under gravitation, of various small bits.

Things falling in from infinity, basically.

Depending on the random assortment of starting locations of those infalling bits, you get torque applied to the accumulating mass core.
4/

In order to end up with a planet with absolutely no spin, you need a PERFECT balance of starting locations of all of the constituent bits before they start their fall in.

This is possible, but is an insanely small subset of all possible starting configurations.
5/

Governments and societies form from the coalescence of individuals.

We could imagine a society where Everyone Was Perfectly Equal ... but that would require a starting universe where all people were born with equal talents.
6/

...and the result was never once perturbed by random events (also effectively impossible).

In the real world, some people are "ten X-ers" on sociopathy, or social skills, or persuasive speech, or making friends, or threatening enemies, or...
7/

These people will aways form an elite.

A MORAL elite? no

An INTELLECTUAL elite? no

Just a ruling elite.

The definition is descriptive, not prescriptive.

Those who rule are the type who rule.

I'm smart, introvert, nice. I HATE that the Darwinian nature of the universe
8/

But just because you dislike (a) the distribution of talents, (b) the way that the universe responds to that unequal distribution, (c) the moral worth of the traits that selection seems to prioritize

...is no reason to deny the evidence. We are not science deniers here!
9/

So
10/

More or less in keeping with Nozick's "Wilt Chamberlain" argument re unequal results in market economies, we've got a "Kennedy / Biden" argument re unequal results in political exchange.

The Kennedies etc will always rise to the top, like toilet paper in a septic tank.
11/

You can stir a septic tank, but as soon as you put down the paddle, the solid matter settles back to the bottom and the TP floats to the top again.

So too with politics and revolutions.

You can hate the Gini coefficient of power distribution, but you can't really change it
12/

It IS cheerful.

I'm giving you permission to stop spending your time stirring a septic tank, and go read a book or learn glassblowing or take up piano.

That's the most useful thing you'll hear this year.

https://t.co/qOxVgl39K4
13/

ok, let's test theories with an experiment

you do ... whatever your theory tells you too, and then report back to me about how well that behavior has changed the universe

https://t.co/z5o5YVJF9l
14/

I am also interested in being left alone

Please tell me how your theories achieve that.

https://t.co/VA50duUcyR
15/

Well, I guess that means that your theory is better / smarter / more accurate.

Congrats on that, and best of luck.

https://t.co/1CGu9r9gZ5

More from History

Thank you so much to the incredible @gregjenner and his team for having me on "You're Dead to Me" and to @kaekurd for being so hilarious and bringing Gilgamesh the restaurant into my life!

Here’s a thread of some of the stuff referenced in the podcast for those interested


First of all, what even is cuneiform?

It’s a writing system from the ancient Middle East, used to write several languages like Sumerian and Akkadian. Cuneiform signs can stand for whole words or syllables. Here’s a little primer of its evolution
https://t.co/7CVjLCHwkS


What kinds of texts was cuneiform used to write?

Initially, accounting records and lists.

Eventually, literature, astronomy, medicine, maps, architectural plans, omens, letters, contracts, law collections, and more.


Texts from the Library of Ashurbanipal, who ruled the ancient Assyrian empire when it was at its largest in the 7th century BCE, represent many of the genres of cuneiform texts and scholarship.

Here’s a short intro to the library via @opencuneiform https://t.co/wjnaxpMRrC


The Library of Ashurbanipal has a complicated modern and ancient history, which you can read about in this brilliant (and open access) book by Prof @Eleanor_Robson

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🌿𝑻𝒉𝒆 𝒔𝒕𝒐𝒓𝒚 𝒐𝒇 𝒂 𝑺𝒕𝒂𝒓 : 𝑫𝒉𝒓𝒖𝒗𝒂 & 𝑽𝒊𝒔𝒉𝒏𝒖

Once upon a time there was a Raja named Uttānapāda born of Svayambhuva Manu,1st man on earth.He had 2 beautiful wives - Suniti & Suruchi & two sons were born of them Dhruva & Uttama respectively.
#talesofkrishna https://t.co/E85MTPkF9W


Now Suniti was the daughter of a tribal chief while Suruchi was the daughter of a rich king. Hence Suruchi was always favored the most by Raja while Suniti was ignored. But while Suniti was gentle & kind hearted by nature Suruchi was venomous inside.
#KrishnaLeela


The story is of a time when ideally the eldest son of the king becomes the heir to the throne. Hence the sinhasan of the Raja belonged to Dhruva.This is why Suruchi who was the 2nd wife nourished poison in her heart for Dhruva as she knew her son will never get the throne.


One day when Dhruva was just 5 years old he went on to sit on his father's lap. Suruchi, the jealous queen, got enraged and shoved him away from Raja as she never wanted Raja to shower Dhruva with his fatherly affection.


Dhruva protested questioning his step mother "why can't i sit on my own father's lap?" A furious Suruchi berated him saying "only God can allow him that privilege. Go ask him"