A key insight or dreconceptualization
Ultrakooperacja

Ultracooperation

Saigon in Mexico, Mexico among the Arabs, and wild Africa in Saigon. These various sayings, referring primarily to the practice of obeying traffic regulations, refer to the issue of so-called ultracooperation. The core of this trait, acquired by people through the process of socialization, is subordination to a system of laws that defines the rights and obligations of community members – dependent, of course, on status and social standing.

In Neolithic societies, the upper limit of community growth seems to be 100-200 individuals. Larger communities are capable of survival thanks to the phenomena of emergent ultracooperation, susceptible to disruption and attack – the ability of people to cooperate regardless of kinship ties (clan, lineage).

The ability of humans to create state organisms or empires stems from the progress of biological and cultural coevolution. These are the laws and principles of so-called impersonal trust (with people outside the clan/family), respect for the dignity and property of strangers, and similar traits (►SP VII.7).

Large groups of strangers can cooperate when they are united by a belief in a so-called shared myth and trust understood as a public good. A shared myth is also a myth that energizes and mobilizes all types of collective effort. Historically, the most effective generators of such myths have been religions, especially Abrahamic ones. They are a key, most efficient component of the cultural software that drives the phenomenon of ultra-cooperation.

An example of an evolutionary leap that removes the invisible ceiling on community growth is the difference between the religion of the Old Testament and Christianity. One can become a follower of the former by birth. In Christianity, conversion occurs, consisting of undergoing a ritual of accepting a cultural package. The ritual is available to everyone without racial, cultural or other restrictions.