Trade worked in Europe better then in China because Europe had no pan-European state with a fixed hierarchy. When Europe sent out ships across the ocean, the project wanted to bring back goods that could be sold on the market for profit while when China sent ships across the ocean they wanted to bring back presents that the emperor who’s on top of the hierarchy enjoys.
The internet we have today is a great network without any hierarchy that works. The same goes for many open source projects where most of the value creation happens along network norms.
I find David Ronfeldt’s paper Tribes, Institutions, Markets, Networks: A Framework About Societal Evolution very insightful for thinking about the place of hierarchies (institutions).
Trade worked in Europe better then in China because Europe had no pan-European state with a fixed hierarchy. When Europe sent out ships across the ocean, the project wanted to bring back goods that could be sold on the market for profit while when China sent ships across the ocean they wanted to bring back presents that the emperor who’s on top of the hierarchy enjoys.
The internet we have today is a great network without any hierarchy that works. The same goes for many open source projects where most of the value creation happens along network norms.