The collapse of complex societies@Everything2.com

The collapse of complex societies@Everything2.com: "'The citizens of modern complex societies usually do not realize that we are an anomaly in history. Throughout the several million years that recognizable humans are known to have lived, the common unit was the small, autonomous community, acting independently and largely self-sufficient ... hierarchy and complexity are actually rare in human history, and where present require constant reinforcement. No societal leader is ever far from the need to validate position and policy, and no hierarchal society can be organized without explicit provision for this need.'
~ Joseph A. Tainter, The collapse of complex societies (NY: Cambridge, 1990)"