The gossip trap

...their eagerness to line up with progressivism spins throughout like a finely-tuned gyroscope.

...or rejecting the science of kinship-based theories of altruism with reasoning like “many humans just don’t like their families very much” - вот уж действительно научный аргумент

-- The gossip trap by Eric Hoel

After all, who sits with who is something that comes incredibly naturally to humans—it is our point of greatest anxiety and subject to our constant management. This is extremely similar to the grooming hierarchies of primates, and, presumably, our hominid ancestors. So 50,000 BC might be a little more like a high school than anything else.

это называется местничество

In fact, it’s almost tautological that early societies had to be organized by raw social power... - вот именно tautological. ну и в конце он совсем уже теряет берега:

So then what is civilization? It is a superstructure that levels leveling mechanisms, freeing us from the gossip trap. For what are the hallmarks of civilization? I’d venture to say: immunity to gossip.

дальше там и про twitter, и про Путина, и чего только нет. в общем слабое эссе, особенно в части синтеза (что неудивительно). хотя про Sapient Paradox и Dunbar number интересно.