1. Can we force the size of the elite to the smaller, if so, how? Curtis Yarvin recommended shrinking the elites from 1-in-5 to 1-in-20, and the solution converges with Patrick T. Brown's "Mid-Tier Underproduction" thesis, i.e. Esty-fication of craft and art.
2. Since elite overproduction may be a symptom of a bigger problem, would it be caused by other things? e.g. Turchin's Big Gods Theory, Samo Burja's Elite Founder Theory
3. Is this pattern recognizable on the smaller scale (organizational and social)? It seems to converge with concepts such as The Venkatesh Rao's Clueless, L. Dean Webb's Counterelite, "Midwit", "Small-Souled Bugmen", and others.
Sorry for the late reply, but not sure I entirely agree with your characterization of the possible solutions to the problem.
1. I view elite overproduction as a structural reality that produces certain effects. Proposing that "elites" (i.e. people who go to higher education) be artificially shrunk or capped to a certain size seems not possible, nor would I even want to go down that road because it naturalizes hierarchies I find sort of useless. Even starting a conversation around "perfect ratios" on this question is just a bad road to go down. According to Turchin, some of problem fundamentally stems from the depression of wages since the 1970s.
2. I think it's closely aligned with the depression of wages + the bloating of the political sphere, educational bureaucracies and the commentariat which started in the 1980s.
3. I'll have to look into those concepts, not entirely familiar with them.
Personally, I am not really interested in sketching out some equilibrium here on elites as much as I am interested in properly assessing the current stakeholders in politics in their structural make-up. Elite overproduction allows you to more accurately assess that. Two of the main takeaways from this idea as it applies in the United States, in my view, are:
(a) it demonstrates how politics has, by and large, been skewed into an inter-elite conflict and factionalism among a small class of people
(b) and from this, it helps us to understand the current dealignment of the electoral system, and the incapacity of electoral party politics to properly integrate real popular demands, something which political scientists Walter Dean Burnham and Thomas Ferguson noticed long ago. This is because politics today is not being moved by a social center, but by a certain crust that possesses all the social power and has become more separate from the rest of society, while also becoming more defensive of its position above society.
Meta 3: What would be the major cause of elite overproduction vs decreased wellbeing? If we were to follow the chain of causality, where is the chokepoint?
Some questions to consider:
1. Can we force the size of the elite to the smaller, if so, how? Curtis Yarvin recommended shrinking the elites from 1-in-5 to 1-in-20, and the solution converges with Patrick T. Brown's "Mid-Tier Underproduction" thesis, i.e. Esty-fication of craft and art.
2. Since elite overproduction may be a symptom of a bigger problem, would it be caused by other things? e.g. Turchin's Big Gods Theory, Samo Burja's Elite Founder Theory
3. Is this pattern recognizable on the smaller scale (organizational and social)? It seems to converge with concepts such as The Venkatesh Rao's Clueless, L. Dean Webb's Counterelite, "Midwit", "Small-Souled Bugmen", and others.
Sorry for the late reply, but not sure I entirely agree with your characterization of the possible solutions to the problem.
1. I view elite overproduction as a structural reality that produces certain effects. Proposing that "elites" (i.e. people who go to higher education) be artificially shrunk or capped to a certain size seems not possible, nor would I even want to go down that road because it naturalizes hierarchies I find sort of useless. Even starting a conversation around "perfect ratios" on this question is just a bad road to go down. According to Turchin, some of problem fundamentally stems from the depression of wages since the 1970s.
2. I think it's closely aligned with the depression of wages + the bloating of the political sphere, educational bureaucracies and the commentariat which started in the 1980s.
3. I'll have to look into those concepts, not entirely familiar with them.
Personally, I am not really interested in sketching out some equilibrium here on elites as much as I am interested in properly assessing the current stakeholders in politics in their structural make-up. Elite overproduction allows you to more accurately assess that. Two of the main takeaways from this idea as it applies in the United States, in my view, are:
(a) it demonstrates how politics has, by and large, been skewed into an inter-elite conflict and factionalism among a small class of people
(b) and from this, it helps us to understand the current dealignment of the electoral system, and the incapacity of electoral party politics to properly integrate real popular demands, something which political scientists Walter Dean Burnham and Thomas Ferguson noticed long ago. This is because politics today is not being moved by a social center, but by a certain crust that possesses all the social power and has become more separate from the rest of society, while also becoming more defensive of its position above society.
Thank you for the response, here are some further questions with respective links:
Meta 1: Is it possible to assess the cultural shift in the "middle" strata to assess where things are going?
A: Need for agency rather than rational pragmatism within a individuating creative frame https://archive.fo/Yhg5o https://americanmanifestobook.blogspot.com/2020/04/three-peoples-theory-in-brief.html https://americanmanifestobook.blogspot.com/2020/06/three-peoples-religion-in-brief.html
B: Prestige obsession, "Luxury Beliefs", and the abuse of silence, relational power, and moral capital https://alexdanco.com/2021/01/22/the-michael-scott-theory-of-social-class https://americanmanifestobook.blogspot.com/2018/04/the-three-forms-of-social-control.html https://www.researchgate.net/publication/228377905_How_a_Social_Capital_Approach_Can_Help_Multinationals_Show_Ethical_Leadership https://swellandcut.com/2018/09/26/in-plain-sight
C: Belief in absurd and interesting information for contrarian and "self-discovery" purposes, instead of coherent detailed apolitical truths https://www.ribbonfarm.com/2016/06/02/the-theory-of-narrative-selection https://astralcodexten.substack.com/p/book-review-fussell-on-class/comment/1358393 https://alima.substack.com/p/midwits-and-the-office https://americanmanifestobook.blogspot.com/2018/07/meaning-and-three-peoples.html
D: Vulnerable to Dunning Kruger Effect or "The Curse of Development", which manifests as piety or intellectual insecurity https://www.ribbonfarm.com/2010/04/14/the-gervais-principle-iii-the-curse-of-development/ https://theredqueen.substack.com/p/dunning-kruger-power-effect https://sachink.substack.com/p/midwits-and-meta-contrarianism
E: Comedy that is mainly used to maintain status and target individuals rather than groups https://www.ribbonfarm.com/2010/10/14/the-gervais-principle-iv-wonderful-human-beings/
F: Overreliance on mainstream media rather than public conversations or serious research https://archive.fo/HVWwA
G: Settling for the "safe" lifestyle https://dwarkeshpatel.com/barbell-strategies https://kadavy.net/blog/posts/barbell-strategy https://web.archive.org/web/20210609095040/https://www.mightyknowledge.com/use-the-barbell-strategy-for-risk-taking-in-your-life/ https://hackernoon.com/on-the-infestation-of-small-souled-bugmen-6561ae922e07
H: "Premium Mediocre" branded and trendy, instead of intermittent high luxury https://www.10ktom.com/post/barbell-strategy https://www.ribbonfarm.com/2017/08/17/the-premium-mediocre-life-of-maya-millennial
Meta 2: Is it possible to assess the organization and labor shift in the "middle" strata to assess where things are going?
A: Clueless of the "fall of Rome", excess posturing and past-oriented beliefs while opportunists plan and extract national wealth https://www.ribbonfarm.com/2009/10/07/the-gervais-principle-or-the-office-according-to-the-office/ https://archive.fo/lj98e https://swellandcut.com/2018/06/28/the-trident
B: Bohemian rather than "hippie" counter-culture https://astralcodexten.substack.com/p/book-review-fussell-on-class/comment/1350555
C: Most likely to desire idealistic change and revolution, which gets used by the elite to cause bloody purges http://www.zzzptm.com/lss-002.html https://philosophyinhell.substack.com/p/sociopaths-clueless-and-losers-in
D: Fast tempo and excess of BS work and "project work" (passengers) against the correct tempo of entrepreneurial work (pilots) https://www.ribbonfarm.com/2007/09/24/strategy-tactics https://archive.fo/0cap2 https://thecontextofthings.com/2021/01/25/the-three-tiers-of-work-and-life/ https://nextchapterconsulting.ca/2021/10/31/are-you-a-pedestrian-passenger-or-pilot https://archive.fo/TpSuC
E: Hanlon Dodges, or Malice obscured as incompetence https://www.ribbonfarm.com/2011/10/14/the-gervais-principle-v-heads-i-win-tails-you-lose
F: Economically trapped as tax farms and no investments other than real estate and commodities https://litushistory.weebly.com/115.html https://www.myfatfire.com/home/2020/7/20/poor-middle-class-and-rich
Meta 3: What would be the major cause of elite overproduction vs decreased wellbeing? If we were to follow the chain of causality, where is the chokepoint?