The problem isn’t the conservatives or the liberals. It isn’t capitalism. It isn’t democracy. It isn’t Trump. It isn’t corporations.
The problem is simpler than that.
In the absence of authentic feedback, power concentrates.
Every.
Single.
Time.
(10 unrelated (but related) examples off the top of my head)
Irrigation Empires
In rain-fed farming, drought or overuse directly affects local food supply. People adjust their behavior based on immediate ecological feedback. When irrigation systems emerge, they buffer these signals. Central planners control the water, so the consequences of overuse don’t reach them. This severance allows bureaucracies and elites to centralize control, since managing the infrastructure (not responding to the land) is what grants power.
Bees and Pesticides
In healthy ecosystems, bees rely on sensory feedback (smell, landmarks, hive cues) to forage and navigate. When pesticides disrupt these signals, bees become disoriented. Natural feedback about ecosystem health is silenced. As wild pollination declines, power shifts to corporations that sell commercial hives or artificial pollination services. The feedback loop that kept ecosystems adaptive is replaced with dependence on manufactured inputs.
Five-Year Plans
In a functional economy, local failures (bad harvests, overwork, material shortages) prompt direct corrections. Under Stalin’s central planning, officials fear punishment for failure, so they falsify reports. Honest feedback disappears. Quotas, not reality, guide decisions. Power concentrates in those who control narrative and allocation, not those who are responsive to conditions on the ground. Collapse looms, but the system can no longer see it coming.
Social Media Algos
In face-to-face interaction, people receive immediate social feedback (tone, expression, disagreement) that guides conversation. Platforms like TikTok or Facebook sever this feedback by filtering everything through opaque algorithms. What spreads is what generates clicks, not what builds understanding. Users can’t tell why they see what they see. Those who exploit outrage, manipulation, or performance rise to the top. Influence concentrates in those who bypass authentic social cues.
Fragmented Elephant Herds
In stable elephant societies, older matriarchs provide feedback…where to go, how to behave, when to fight or flee. Humans kill matriarchs and fragment herds…eliminating this feedback. Young males grow up without social correction. They become unusually aggressive or dominant, traits that wouldn’t thrive under proper guidance. Power concentrates in individuals unregulated by social memory, and the entire group loses coherence.
The Founding Fathers to MAGA
The U.S. system is built on feedback loops…checks and balances, press freedom, elections. Over time, these loops weaken. Media polarizes, districts are gerrymandered, campaign money distorts priorities. Citizens lose the ability to meaningfully influence power. Leaders rise who don’t need to respond to truth or consequence. Spectacle and branding replace accountability. The system rewards insulation over responsibility, and power concentrates accordingly.
Foraging Societies to Aztec Empires
Forage live close to ecological limits. If they overhunt or mistreat each other, the effects show up fast. Feedback is direct. As empires form, this feedback is replaced with hierarchy, tribute, and symbolic order. Rulers receive food, gold, and obedience, but not signals about ecological or social strain. They rule by ritual and abstraction. Power concentrates in those furthest from consequence, and collapse becomes inevitable.
Small Family Farms to Monsanto
On small farms, feedback from soil, weather, pests, and animals guides decisions. When industrial ag takes over, this feedback is muted by chemicals, contracts, and monoculture. Companies like Monsanto (Bayer) insert themselves between farmers and the land…controlling seed genetics, licensing, and supply chains. Farmers no longer adjust based on ecological feedback; they follow protocols. Power shifts to those who sell in puts and own patents, not those who observe the field.
Socialism to Authoritarianism
Young socialist movements promote worker feedback, collective decision-making, and material accountability. As these systems centralize, feedback gets buried. Leaders suppress dissent, equate criticism with betrayal, and create a climate of fear. The system stops adjusting to real conditions. Power accumulates in those who can enforce ideology and maintain order, not those who can listen, adapt, or serve. What starts as redistribution ends as command and control.
Academic Institutions (from learning to gatekeeping)
Initially, education is grounded in open inquiry and personal feedback…students ask questions, teachers respond, ideas evolve. As academia professionalizes, it filters feedback through credentials, metrics, and funding pipelines. Scholars no longer respond to real-world needs. They respond to peer review, grant conditions, and institutional politics. Feedback from the public, from learners, from reality itself gets severed. Authority concentrates in gatekeepers who control access to legitimacy.
The First to Fall 