Originally
posted by
martian:
I read somewhere that no human well organized project/group can be involve than 100,000 people (that's the limit of our ability to have a group project). If you look historically no successful project or organization has been able to exceed that number for long (armies, building the pyramids etc).
The Great Wall of China, no less than 300,000 builders at any one time. I suppose you could argue that because it wasn't all built at one time it would not be a long period but each build was still what I would consider long. A million man force working for 37 years though in a single project seems long to me.
Walmart Corporation, a somewhat centralized company with a workforce the size of a small countries population. Not the best example because it's stores operate within themselves, but still comparable to a country. I think it is managed well enough to say compared to any country in the world, none could compete with the pure logistics as efficiently as it.
Many examples come to mind actually. I don't buy the hard limit statement at all.
That is just a small part of your post however, and I completely agree that the greater the country population, the lesser the control. If president Obama walked into a house and told them to turn off their T.V. he would be slapped or shot.
Hu Jintao? Who?! He would be lucky to be recognized at all, and even after so the owner of the home would make a few calls and eventually Hu Jintao would get a call and the owner could keep his television on and probably get free cable for the interruption.
Where as let's say Hugo Chavez walked into a Venezuelan home, the owner would likely give him the T.V. Perhaps that owner would still join a an underground anti-government party.
Kim Jong-il? I doubt the owner could stop worshiping/trying to escape long enough to even notice.
My list helps your theory but it also adds other possible explanations. Culture play a huge role. More important than actual historical culture is the influences of other cultures and how the culture has grown.
Take China for example, it has had a rapid move in culture in the past 30 years. When once people would bow to their leader and old ways would be observed, now you have a tendency toward greed and self before all else. They expect the government to stay out of their way and when the government interferes they use their contacts and the greed of those contacts to right all problems. They only value old traditions that do not get in the way of their hustle and bustle lives.
USA is a great example of cultural change. Where once freedom was everything now the masses bow down and gladly give up all freedoms with out a question asked. A culture once bent on being free has all but been enslaved. I can state with confidence that 30 years ago had some government agent told a man he would be pulling his wife over in the corner and molesting her to ensure she has no weapons, and that if they did not submit they will not be flying and will be arrested, that government agent would be killed where he stood.
India from what I know of them hasn't seen such a big shift. The game is the same but the tools and rewards have changed. Where once was women, land, or fame now stands money, trinkets, and staying out of the way of the government. I have always pictured it somewhat like Bartertown from Mad Max. The belief is still there unlike China, but now it's for sale to the highest bidder.
