The causes of socioeconomic inequality have been debated since the time of Plato. Many reasons for the development of stratification have been proposed, from the need for hierarchical control over large-scale irrigation systems to the accumulation of small differences in wealth over time via inheritance processes. However, none of these explains how unequal societies came to completely displace egalitarian cultural norms over time. Our study models demographic consequences associated with the unequal distribution of resources in stratified societies. Agent-based simulation results show that in constant environments, unequal access to resources can be demographically destabilizing, resulting in the outward migration and spread of such societies even when population size is relatively small. In variable environments, stratified societies spread more and are also better able to survive resource shortages by sequestering mortality in the lower classes. The predictions of our simulation are provided modest support by a range of existing empirical studies. In short, the fact that stratified societies today vastly outnumber egalitarian societies may not be due to the transformation of egalitarian norms and structures, but may instead reflect the more rapid migration of stratified societies and consequent conquest or displacement of egalitarian societies over time.

We hypothesize, therefore, that the spread of socioeconomic stratification may have been a result of cultural change via demic diffusion. In other words, socioeconomic stratification may have spread across the globe over the past several thousand years, not because it provided apparent advantages that led to its adoption by egalitarian cultures, but simply because it altered demographic outcomes in ways that produced an increase in frequency of stratified populations, through population expansion or the outward migration of populations in search of additional territory and resources.

goopstein posted:
tpaine posted:
poor contrabassoon. i feel for ya mate


Ya it must be hard to have the perfect storm of bmi + serious mental issues necessary to spaz out for three weeks because a 70+ year old person died of natural causes

Now thats what i call

deadken posted:
yeah i agree, i was posting about this kind of stuff back at the 'dp, and people were arguing that especially for lgbt people the internet is basically the only way of finding supportive people and the friendships there are just as real, and that what i was saying was akin to saying Try Harder To Make Friends. and i dont think thats the case really. i mean wddp had a high concentration of lgbt people, but it started off in sa, which didnt. and the reason they found each other was because they went off looking for each other, because the anonymity of the internet meant that they were less hesitant in forging connections. and only then do they raise the masks a lil and think that theyre friends. but theyre not, not really. like when alan was having an extended breakdown and people were wringing their hands and making posts about how much they cared i couldnt help but think that an actual friend would be able to go there in person and comfort him and make sure he didnt suicide himself. and i think the truth is that if they had put more effort into finding people like themselves in real life they'd be happier and less miserable all the time because there is no substitute for actual genuine human contact, we're talking through text and pixels and wires, until we go full singularity it will not be the same. in conclusion, everyone needs to take more cocaine

discipline posted:
I think that's why I'm so against making posting more about personalities and less about content. I see it as an imposition from the outside, not a comfort level that we've reached with one another.

I agree with much of what you said, but I think you're making a category error. I think one of the problems at that other place was indeed the sort of bleed over between facebook-style 'real life' persona and constructed internet persona. I don't think that is an inevitable outcome of casual posting however. I would point back to the original ell eff and suggest that for a good time there we were mostly able to effectively combine casual posting (under constructed personæ) with semi-frequent legitimately serious and interesting posts.

discipline posted:

deadken posted:
thing is 'dead ken' is literally not different at all to how i am irl, i say stupid shit to be contrary and ramble about theory and talk about myself incessantly and if im in understanding company i do my ironic antisemitism schtick and people still tolerate me, its really weird

doubtful. of course when I post I feel like It's Really Me Posting sometimes but I know better.

i dunno. i feel like most posters are either polar opposites of their offline personalities or exactly the same. violently angry nerds are obviously timid as hell irl, depresso krew would def be as moaningly pitiful if they had friends to interact with