Teaching my Dark Enlightenment version of AP US history has been… enlightening. From Glubb’s thesis of empire lifecycle and the history of the US as presented by Beard etc, I see that the shift from K selection to r selection is an inevitable process, which no constitution or institution can resist.
How, then, to build a lasting society? How to prevent the tipping point of wealth that triggers r selection?
The Spartans are the exception to Glubb’s 250 year rule. How did the they do it? They outlawed gold, using iron instead for coin. And they brutally inducted their youth, first via savage trials among the Helots, then into military fraternities.
Obviously Spartan economic policy doesn’t work today. Money must flow to fund a modern military. How to adapt their model to the modern day? What trials are available?
I thought of a few:
1. Racial holy war, ala the Spartans vs Helots.
2. Survivorman, ala the Indians. Get dropped somewhere remote with not enough gear and survive.
3. The Ultimate Fighter style tournaments. Winners get exemptions, losers get the shaft.
4. Mandatory military service for young men. Vigorous small-scale imperial style conflicts.
These all have their upsides and downsides. All can be corrupted into sloth and leniency. That is the main problem. But we have at least clarified the problem – r vs K depends on the harrowing of the young men.
Thus I propose a general law – that the casualty rate for young men – say age 9-25 – should be x%.
Maybe x is 3%, maybe it’s 10%. Losing guys is expensive, but the survivors will know they are badass. I’d prefer to be a 10%’er rather than a 3%’er. That’s my threshold. But it’s an arbitrary number.
The point is, use the above 4 mechanisms until the desired casualty rate is achieved. The losers are culled, the survivors are epigenetically programmed for K and properly inducted into manhood. Voila, a sustainable empire. Just as the Spartans had.
As a secondary benefit, women outnumber men slightly. This means that men are high status, which is key for patriarchal longevity.
This plan doesn’t directly address the corrupting effects of wealth on a society. But I hope that, in combination with Edenic eugenics, it would be enough. An early taste of hardship should create a culture that scorns luxury and weakness.
This should be considered an addition to Jim’s observations on state religion, and Moldbug’s on formalizing ownership.
Men are expendable, by immutable biological law. It’s time we institutionalized that fact.