From the original quote:
of the modern man, his base subservient acceptance of every common decree.
These common decrees are coming from men, not the docile masses but the small minority of leaderly men. Where is the existential threat in the common decrees of leaderly men as opposed to the hypothetical actions the masses of docile men would take if they were not docile? I understand neither why one expects an existential threat from the decrees of leaderly men nor why one expects that threat to be countered by the hypothetical actions of docile men made counterfactually non-docile.
Or rather I don't understand these as things for which there is evidence. An apparently relatively docile Chinese population seems to have done OK under a repressive communist government, certainly not seeming to come close to anything that was an existential threat.
So how is a repressive society an existential threat?
I understand neither why one expects an existential threat from the decrees of leaderly men nor why one expects that threat to be countered by the hypothetical actions of docile men made counterfactually non-docile.
Hm. Let me try to offer a hypothesis. I am not sure I believe it myself, but I'll throw it out for evaluation.
I think that the existential threat of repressive societies has to do with expected variation.
Societies where general population provides strong inputs into the political process tend to be less adventurous and more mundane. It's deci...
Rationality quotes time!
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