Why You Will “Own” Nothing: Bandits & Super-Encompassing Interests (Mancur Olson)

Support my work further by joining my Patreon or by becoming a Youtube Member. https://www.patreon.com/cw/thepast33yrs From the anarchic sea that is the Hobbesian Anarchy—the State of Nature—one patrolled by roving bandits which themselves only possess a narrow interest, will inevitably emerge a stationary bandit—one who outcompetes and dominates the lesser bandits of the roving variety—and this stationary bandit will come to possess an encompassing interest in the domain or territory in which he resides. This is the foundation of human civilization. In this video, we will explore the work of Mancur Olson—specifically, his book Power & Prosperity: Outgrowing Communist and Capitalist Dictatorships, published posthumously in the year 2000, after his untimely death. A book that was to be published on the eve of what could be called a figurative apocalypse—a transition where one system ended and another began. A new order, of sorts. A year or so later, in 2001, China would join the World Trade Organization and the final stage of the Managerial Revolution that James Burnham prophesied would begin. Timestamps 00:00 Preamble: Roving vs Stationary Bandit 12:00 The Criminal Metaphor 15:20 The Challenge for the Underclass 17:13 Incentives 18:15 Summary: Roving vs. Stationary bandit 19:29 Billionaires 19:59 Mafia Example 29:10 The Utility of Anarcho-Tyranny 30:27 The Utility of Socialism 31:28 The Monopolizing Bandit 33:31 Synthetic Counter Revolutions 34:06 Feudalism 35:18 Systems Thinking 39:39 Differentiation & Specialization 40:47 The Utility of Inclusion 42:00 Tribal & Clan-Based Sytems 43:22 Coase's Theorem 49:53 Coase, Tech, & E-commerce 53:27 Coase and Anarcho-Communism 54:55 No Magic: Transaction Costs 59:17 Coase As A Counter-Theory 1:00:19 Coase Underpins Many Ideologies 1:11:59 The Assumptions of Coase 1:18:51 Socialism & Anarchism: Utopian 1:22:41 LIbertarianism & Anarcho-Capitalism: Utopian 1:23:55 Communism & Anarcho-Communism: Utopian 1:25:56 Anarcho-Anything: Utopian 1:27:07 Cybernetic Variety Tie-In 1:28:08 Super-Encompassing Interest Group 1:31:17 Burnham's 3 Challenges 1:31:35 3 (Mostly) Solved Challenges 1:41:45 China's Role 1:43:08 Thucydides Resolved 1:44:41 The (Illusory) Cosmic Battle 1:46:36 The Globalized Masses 1:48:25 Autarkic Resistors 1:49:21 A Tale of Two Evils 1:49:35 Return to Preview 1:54:13 Olson & The Super-Encompassing Interest 1:56:08 The False God of Socialism 1:58:22 Jouvenel's HIgh-Low Middle Control Mechanism 2:01:43 The "Meaning" of Orwell's 1984 End: 2:07:47 #systemstheory, #economics, #mancursolson, #crime, #mafia, #sociology, #civilization, #history, #anarchy, #hobbesiananarchy, #libertarian SOURCES: Mancur Olson, Power & Prosperity: Outgrowing Communist and Capitalist Dictatorships, 2000, Basic Books (Perseus Books Group) James Burnham, The Managerial Revolution, 1941, John Day Company Robert Michels, Political Parties: A Sociological Study of the Oligarchical Tendencies of Modern Democracy, 1911, (1915, English Translation), Free Press Second Paperback Edition (1962) Vilfredo Pareto, The Mind & Society, Vol.1, 1916, (1935, English Translation), Harcourt, Brace & Co. James Burnham, The Machiavellians: Defenders of Freedom, 1943, Reprinted by Lume Books (2020). Stafford Beer, Brain of the Firm, 1972, 2nd Edition (1980), John Wiley and Sons, Limited. Wikipedia, James Burnham, (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Burnham) includes Orwell quote Falk, O., Wallinius, M., Lundstrom, S., et al. The 1 % of the population accountable for 63 % of all violent crime convictions,Soc Psychiatry Psychiatr Epidemiol. 2013 Oct 31;49(4):559–571. doi: 10.1007/s00127-013-0783-y (https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC3969807/) World Inequality Report, 2022, Chapter 4, Global wealth inequality: the rise of multimillionaires, (https://wir2022.wid.world/chapter-4/) IMAGES: Wikicommons, User: Semiprof, Vector Field, (Color Changed & Added Overlay Elements) Gradient 99, CC BY-SA 3.0 UP, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Gradient99.png Frontispiece of Leviathan by Abraham Bosse, with input from Hobbes, Public Domain, via Wikicommons