• @afraid_of_zombies
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    210 months ago

    Tall poppy syndrome of small communities is probably the biggest factor in why our technological progress was so slow for so long. Humans 100,000 years ago were basically the same as us and yet inventions took thousands of years.

      • @afraid_of_zombies
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        edit-2
        10 months ago

        Envy is not the same as tall poppy syndrome. Tall poppy syndrome is when it is easier to ruin your competition vs be better. The murder rate for humanity before civilization was incredibly high, higher than any other mammal. Cave paintings show successful hunters being mocked. Quite simply it was easier to kill your rival vs learn how to hunt better.

        Science progress does not increase exponentially. If it did can you explain why we haven’t been on the moon in fifty years and only built one nuclear reactor in that time period? Or why the clock speed of my desktop is the same as it was for my desktop 22 years ago?

        Small towns are shit.

    • livus
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      fedilink
      010 months ago

      @afraid_of_zombies

      Inventions are cumulative.

      Societies tend to go through faster periods of inventions when certain conditions are met. One of them is war, that drives inventions.

      Another one is a more equal society. In societies where you get to use your invention yourself and benefit from it yourself there is more incentive for more people to do it. If your invention is mainly going to benefit elites, fewer people spend time inventing. This is one of the reasons why empires historically stagnate towards the end.