[zergblush]

He’s sketching out a main point that a few are subjugating the rest using some sort of apportioned rights (in this case, runaway technological inertia and money leading to a positive feedback loop of even more inertia)

I think you’re missing the forest for the trees by concentrating on the historical robustness of his feudalism reference

My immediate thought was that he meant something more like corporate city states ala cyberpunk themes presciented by blade runner and shadowrun