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Most admired elites in the west: 1940s: decorated military veterans 1950s: spies 1960s: rocket scientists 1970s: brain surgeons* 1980-1987: investors 1988-1997: hackers 1997-2015: entrepreneurs 2015 - now: nobody * when did ‘brain surgery’ replace ‘rocket science’?
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Because of polarization today’s most admired elites are also some of the most hated: tech barons, politicians — anyone in a field with wide influence on public life. AOC, Elon Musk, and Bernie Sanders all have huge numbers of both dedicated followers and passionate detractors.
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But that “answer” sheds no light on the systems dynamics. It just reflects back to you a bunch of your own definitional choices. In every chicken-egg loop the most interesting answer isn’t “chicken” or “egg” it’s “farmer”. Or, even better, the Farming Cultural-Industrial Complex.
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I think it does. One element is usually more primitive ontologically and existed in pre-emergent state. I think elites pre-date masses which affects things via systemic memories.
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