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Human societies run on a vast and uneven Social Knowledge Base (SKB). It holds the accumulated record of human activity: rocket design and nuclear physics, the techniques for making computer chips, medical and biological research, agricultural and manufacturing know-how, the administrative rules that govern nations, and the stories each society tells itself about friends, foes, and everything in between.
Observation
The SKB is not one thing. It is a many-faced entity, shaped by geography, history, and culture. Different parts of humanity can carry different “truths,” and those truths can coexist without touching—whether we are talking about an isolated tribe in the Amazon or the digital tribes of the modern world.
Beneath this complexity sit four familiar forces:
- Hierarchy – who leads and who follows
- Possession – who controls resources and why
- Security – how individuals are protected or threatened
- Ritual – the customs that maintain social order
These forces are not good or bad; they are simply how groups organise themselves.
Observation in History: Agriculture and Feudalism
When humans settled down to farm, everything changed.
Crops and livestock created stored wealth, and stored wealth created temptation. Fences and fields solved one problem but introduced another: anyone with enough nerve or hunger could raid them. As described in Nerd Cheat Sheet: Security in Numbers, once resources become predictable and visible, someone will try to take them.
Land became the primary source of life and power. The feudal world emerged from this dynamic: nobles controlled the land, provided protection, and allowed peasants to work it in exchange for labour, loyalty, and a stable hierarchy.
Observation in Practice: Sicily and Lemons
Sicily illustrates the same principles.
Volcanic soil and Mediterranean climate made the island ideal for agriculture. Citrus—especially lemons—thrived. Centuries later, global demand surged: sailors needed lemons to fight scurvy, physicians wanted them for remedies, and European markets paid well. Natural advantage became wealth, and wealth required protection.
The patterns were the same: stored value → vulnerability → hierarchy.
Consequence
Consequence 1: Weak Authority and the Rise of the Mafia
Sicily faced one critical problem: weak central authority.
No consistent policing. Scattered governance. High-value crops.
Landowners hired private “guardians” to protect orchards. Over time, these protectors evolved into clans that offered “security” for a fee—first informally, then by force. This was one of the root conditions that allowed the Mafia to form.
Not because Sicilians were different, but because the system rewarded anyone who could control valuable property when the state could not. It was the agricultural revolution all over again—only with lemons instead of wheat.
As we romanticise in Game of Thrones, power flows from possession. Those without it survive only by consent of those who have it.
Consequence 2: Collapse of the Feudal System
Eventually, the old land-based systems cracked.
- The English Civil War challenged the idea that authority flowed from bloodlines and divine right. Power shifted toward law and representation.
- The French Revolution delivered the decisive blow. It abolished feudal privileges, removed hereditary rights over land and people, declared citizens equal, and replaced feudal hierarchy with the nation-state.
These turning points mark a broader transition:
a world built on land, inheritance, and personal loyalty →
a world built on rights, institutions, markets, and citizenship
Feudal systems didn’t collapse because people disliked them.
They collapsed because they no longer worked.
Economies changed. Cities grew. Wealth shifted from land to trade, skill, and industry. Once people became stakeholders in more than fields and farms, they demanded a voice.
Consequence 3: The Persistent Structure of Society
Through all of this, one constant remains:
- Possession of revenue-generating property—land, resources, knowledge, or manufacturing—shapes hierarchy.
- Hierarchy shapes control.
- Security defends the hierarchy.
- Ritual maintains cohesion and keeps conflict manageable.
Every system relies on these tools: feudal Europe, Mafia-era Sicily, failed communist experiments, and modern democracies. As Churchill said, democracy is flawed—but better than all the alternatives we’ve tried.
Conclusion
When societies collide—materially or ideologically—the conflict is almost always about possession: land, resources, status, or the right to define the “correct” story. We all need to eat at the end of the day. There is little profit in cutting off your own nose to spite your face.
Action
Observing where power sits in a hierarchy gives us a starting point.
Tearing down a hierarchy has consequences: destruction is fast; creation is slow, as Yoda wisely pointed out.
Understanding how control works helps us see why systems behave as they do. Adjusting our approach accordingly—rather than fighting blindly against the structure—can lead to better outcomes.
This adaptation is one of our most powerful tools.
End Notes
The following sources were identified by ChatGPT as part of the fact-checking for the Nerd Cheat Sheet: The Fabric of Society. I remain responsible for all interpretations and accuracy.
Agriculture, Stored Wealth, and Early Social Structures
• Scott, James C. Against the Grain: A Deep History of the First States.
• Diamond, Jared. Guns, Germs, and Steel.
Hierarchy, Possession, Ritual, and Social Organisation
• Graeber, David & Wengrow, David. The Dawn of Everything.
• Tilly, Charles. Coercion, Capital, and European States.
Sicily, Lemons, Protection Networks, and the Mafia
• Lupo, Salvatore. History of the Mafia.
• Dickie, John. Cosa Nostra: A History of the Sicilian Mafia.
• Mack Smith, Denis. A History of Sicily.
Feudalism and Medieval Land-Based Hierarchies
• Bloch, Marc. Feudal Society.
• Perry Anderson. Lineages of the Absolutist State.
English Civil War and the Decline of Divine-Right Authority
• Hill, Christopher. The World Turned Upside Down.
• Hobsbawm, Eric. The Age of Revolution: 1789–1848.
French Revolution and Abolition of Feudal Privilege
• Hobsbawm, Eric. The Age of Revolution: 1789–1848.
• Schama, Simon. Citizens: A Chronicle of the French Revolution.
📖 Series Roadmap
- Forward: A Little Background
- Introduction: Action, Reaction, and the Human Paradox (16.09.2025)
- Looking Back in Time: The Development of the Human Brain (23.09.2025)
- Abstract Senses: Enhancing the way we see the world outside (30.09.2025)
- Bias as a Concept & Climbing the Stairs: Pattern Recognition & Everyday Tasks (07.10.2025)
- Abstract Feelings and Abstract Senses (14.10.2025)
- Motivation (04.11.2025)
- The Social Knowledge Base (11.11.2025)
- Potential (18.11.2025)
- The Subliminal Way We Go Through Life (26.11.2025)
- Taking Responsibility (02.12.2025)
- Fishing for Complements (22.12.2025)
- Peter and Fermi (22.12.2025)
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