Oct 7, 2026, 4:42 PM@lina @dlakelan @ozzelot What you and Daniel are saying makes sense but my naive question is, what makes your "historically contingent and unstable assemblage of policies and social practices" from evolving into something that looks like a government?
This the the thing that I never see answered in anarchist literature— "okay, I see how the system you're describing could work— what would keep it *stable*?"
I think the answer to this is the society needs to value anarchy, that is, not having people whose opinions matter more than others. The population then puts pressure on anyone who appears to be trying to set themselves up in a special role, up to an including active defense.
This is how immediate return hunter gatherers act. There's some ancient Indus river valley civilizations that seemed to have this kind of thing going on if I'm not mistaken.