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I wonder what the most full-spectrum complex thing humans do that is driven by a single individual. I think it's a three-way dead heat between bleeding edge space missions, complex movies, and computer hardware (bottom half of stack from silicon to low-level system software)
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Too low-dimensional imo. The presence of a clear win condition under defined rules makes it a finite game vulnerable to Goodhart law impoverishment and no reason to rise to sublime. It closer to “IPO a unicorn company” I’d say. My other examples are infinite games.
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The worst movies, space missions, and political campaigns have a lot in common, but the best of the first two reach heights political campaigns never do. Perhaps political lawmaking might qualify. Like getting ACA passed.
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If that’s the standard, then “decolonization + nation-building” must be in this category, at least potentially. Think Ataturk, Nyerere, Sukarno, Nkrumah, Nehru, etc.
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What distinguishes modern variety from old empire building? Trying to detect a strand of historically increasing complexity. Could you say that complexity increase from Alexander to Ataturk is comparable to Galileo telescope to JWST? Or Aeschylus play to Peter Jackson movie?
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Building an integrated bureaucratic state cum ideological-media apparatus is certainly an exceedingly complex endeavor — and an infinite game. I’m not sure how the analogy to telescopes could be made useful.
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I’d say a bleeding edge telescope can be understood as the most advanced integration of all available technologies and sciences of an era into a single general sensory capability. The politics machine similarly is the most advanced integration of social science and technologies?
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