<story><title>Can too many brainy people be a dangerous thing?</title><url>https://www.economist.com/finance-and-economics/2020/10/24/can-too-many-brainy-people-be-a-dangerous-thing</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>lwneal</author><text>In Peter Turchin&amp;#x27;s book War and Peace and War [1], the term &amp;quot;elite overproduction&amp;quot; does not refer to an overproduction of smart people, education, or college degrees. Instead, it refers to an overproduction of &lt;i&gt;nobility&lt;/i&gt;, individuals who  extract income but who do not perform useful work.&lt;p&gt;For example, France during the population boom of the high middle ages overproduced knights and minor nobles from 1200-1300. The nobility increased from around 2% to 4% of the population, while the incomes of the richest nobles soared. Eventually, peasants could no longer produce enough to feed themselves and provide income for all the nobles: this was a contributing factor to the famines and wars of 1350-1400.&lt;p&gt;The most straightforward modern equivalent to Turchin&amp;#x27;s &amp;quot;elite&amp;quot; nobility would not be people with advanced degrees: it would be investors who do not work for wages. (Not to say there is no overlap between those groups.)&lt;p&gt;[1] Turchin, Peter. War and peace and war: The life cycles of imperial nations. Pi, 2005.</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>TuringNYC</author><text>&amp;gt;&amp;gt;&amp;gt; For example, France during the population boom of the high middle ages overproduced knights and minor nobles from 1200-1300. The nobility increased from around 2% to 4% of the population, while the incomes of the richest nobles soared. Eventually, peasants could no longer produce enough to feed themselves and provide income for all the nobles: this was a contributing factor to the famines and wars of 1350-1400.&lt;p&gt;&lt;i&gt;Wow, this literally reminds me of one of my tech employers.&lt;/i&gt; Eventually half the company was a VP, Director, Senior Director or something else. Often you had a reporting chain with a VP --&amp;gt; Sr.Director --&amp;gt; Director --&amp;gt; 1or2 workers&lt;p&gt;Naturally, the high salaries above had to be supported, so the 1 or 2 workers at the bottom had to code more, code faster, and the management layer figuratively cracked the whip harder and harder to somehow produce enough billings to support the team of 5. (note the layers above were &lt;i&gt;not&lt;/i&gt; sales, they were all program-manager types. sales was a different group.)</text></comment>
<story><title>Can too many brainy people be a dangerous thing?</title><url>https://www.economist.com/finance-and-economics/2020/10/24/can-too-many-brainy-people-be-a-dangerous-thing</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>lwneal</author><text>In Peter Turchin&amp;#x27;s book War and Peace and War [1], the term &amp;quot;elite overproduction&amp;quot; does not refer to an overproduction of smart people, education, or college degrees. Instead, it refers to an overproduction of &lt;i&gt;nobility&lt;/i&gt;, individuals who  extract income but who do not perform useful work.&lt;p&gt;For example, France during the population boom of the high middle ages overproduced knights and minor nobles from 1200-1300. The nobility increased from around 2% to 4% of the population, while the incomes of the richest nobles soared. Eventually, peasants could no longer produce enough to feed themselves and provide income for all the nobles: this was a contributing factor to the famines and wars of 1350-1400.&lt;p&gt;The most straightforward modern equivalent to Turchin&amp;#x27;s &amp;quot;elite&amp;quot; nobility would not be people with advanced degrees: it would be investors who do not work for wages. (Not to say there is no overlap between those groups.)&lt;p&gt;[1] Turchin, Peter. War and peace and war: The life cycles of imperial nations. Pi, 2005.</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>moosey</author><text>There are no real shortages of food or shelter at this time.  We should be able to support a very large number of people working on human development: scientists and technologists, medical professionals and even wide-spread service jobs, especially if better paid.&lt;p&gt;Unfortunately, for money to prove it&amp;#x27;s worth, too many things must be made scarce.  It is this scarcity driven by the people who already have money and their servants in the system that are going to drive the current collapse, if it is happening (and I certainly think it is).&lt;p&gt;What&amp;#x27;s mocking about the entire thing is that to retire with a 401k is to join the rent-seeking class.  I imagine there is some dark society that could exist where all the food was produced with automation and all that existed otherwise was ownership of that and other automation, producing nothing of value other than the already specious concept of wealth.</text></comment>