On the flipside, there’s probably some kind of sweet spot of resources a leader can really get value from. I’m thinking of pirate captains, (and quartermasters) who had authority, and (as I understand it), somewhat more access to resources, but not much. (I think Legal Systems Different From Our Own claims they got an even share of the treasure, another book I read awhile back claimed they got two shares, as opposed to military captains that got much higher pay than the rest of the crew)
[edit: I’ve also heard that hunter gatherer societies also pushed egalitarianism in terms leaders not being much higher status. Or maybe this was part of a multi-level game where people play low status but actually are high status? In any case, the point is that the egalitarian forces are not new]
On my “How do people become ambitious?” question, one answer (not quite answering the question I meant to ask, but relevant here) was:
Seems to me like what happens is that redirection of sex or survival drives get caught up in some sort of stable configuration where they can never be satisfied yet the person doesn’t notice that aspect of the loop and thus keeps Doing the Thing far past the time normal people notice. Essentially they’ve goodharted themselves in a way that creates positive externalities for others.
Where I think most “healthy” leaders would want some outsized share, but not the sort of infinite desire to score money or power that drives the CEOS of the largest corporations, or the sort of people who become president.
On the flipside, there’s probably some kind of sweet spot of resources a leader can really get value from. I’m thinking of pirate captains, (and quartermasters) who had authority, and (as I understand it), somewhat more access to resources, but not much. (I think Legal Systems Different From Our Own claims they got an even share of the treasure, another book I read awhile back claimed they got two shares, as opposed to military captains that got much higher pay than the rest of the crew)
[edit: I’ve also heard that hunter gatherer societies also pushed egalitarianism in terms leaders not being much higher status. Or maybe this was part of a multi-level game where people play low status but actually are high status? In any case, the point is that the egalitarian forces are not new]
On my “How do people become ambitious?” question, one answer (not quite answering the question I meant to ask, but relevant here) was:
Where I think most “healthy” leaders would want some outsized share, but not the sort of infinite desire to score money or power that drives the CEOS of the largest corporations, or the sort of people who become president.