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VernamCipher's avatar

This is the Straussian reading of "Plan 9 From Outer Space".

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Portal X's avatar

Maybe all advanced life in the universe have these things in common: Evolution by Natural Selection, Genes, language, and wasteful bureaucracies. Perhaps there are interstellar DMVs with long lines of exasperated aliens waiting to get stickers for their spaceships!

My question is why are institutions so wasteful. I guess it’s because they can be. They get tax-payer money irregardless of efficiency. It’s a case of I scratch your back, you scratch mine, reciprocal altruism in a way. We all do little, but still reap the benefits.But, would that be universal in institutions across the universe?

Hanson’s book the Elephant in the Brain looks like an interesting read that will provide answers for this!

I wonder if Dawkins the Selfish Gene provides a deeper analysis too. Our genes influence us to pass them on in selfish and unselfish ways, and we may not even be consciously aware of it.

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