Yeah, tying back to the original post about whether money is real or made up - that ability to come up with abstract concepts out of asses is what allows us to cooperate on such grand levels.
You might only personally know 100 people that you reasonably trust. But you don’t need to personally know and trust someone in order to sell something to them. We all sort of magically agree that money has value and it allows us to transact with almost anyone.
Same thing with governments. A government isn’t a real thing that you find in nature, but by believing in the concept of it, we’re able to (somewhat) unify millions or billions of people to get shit done.
I guess what I’m saying is, don’t discount the power of something just because it’s not “real”. Making up imaginary shit has got our species pretty damn far!
We sorta do see “government” at times in nature. There are animal groups in which different individuals have different jobs, though it’s much less nuanced and hard-set as a proper government, though(unless we’re talking about ants, I suppose). And that cooperation definitely helps them do a lot more than they ever could alone.
Yeah, tying back to the original post about whether money is real or made up - that ability to come up with abstract concepts out of asses is what allows us to cooperate on such grand levels.
You might only personally know 100 people that you reasonably trust. But you don’t need to personally know and trust someone in order to sell something to them. We all sort of magically agree that money has value and it allows us to transact with almost anyone.
Same thing with governments. A government isn’t a real thing that you find in nature, but by believing in the concept of it, we’re able to (somewhat) unify millions or billions of people to get shit done.
I guess what I’m saying is, don’t discount the power of something just because it’s not “real”. Making up imaginary shit has got our species pretty damn far!
We sorta do see “government” at times in nature. There are animal groups in which different individuals have different jobs, though it’s much less nuanced and hard-set as a proper government, though(unless we’re talking about ants, I suppose). And that cooperation definitely helps them do a lot more than they ever could alone.
Apes together, strong haha