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by jasonwocky 4170 days ago
> For example: the pyramids, cannot be build by one man, but wouldn't have existed if it wasn't for central leadership.

Because they were valueless items to the thousands of people that it took to slave and die creating them? Yes, those things probably wouldn't have been erected if it were a democratic society at the time. I don't see how that's a bad thing.

The Pyramids are in fact a perfect example of the perils of the "strong leader" model of leadership. At the time, they were a fantastic waste of their society's resources.

Divisiveness will, in fact, kill a team. We're on the same page about that. However, teams throughout history and software development that have had "strong leaders" have plenty of track record of being internally divided. Focusing on "Steve Jobs" is a huge example of survivor bias. Nobody hears about the "strongly led" teams that don't make it big, or anywhere.

Democracy doesn't "divide" teams. It gives people a voice to work through their already present divisions. However, the key word there is work. Simply saying you're a democracy without having patience to go through the work won't get you anywhere. Neither will putting together a team filled with people with irreconcilable differences.
2 comments
UrMomReadsHN 4170 days ago
Slaves did not build the pyramids

http://skeptics.stackexchange.com/questions/377/how-were-the...

http://skeptoid.com/mobile/4191

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dasil003 4170 days ago
How about sending a man to the moon? That also seems like a waste of resources, we just aren't morally opposed to it because everyone got paid. However politically they both seem to be in the same class of great human endeavours with no practical value.
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Clever321 4170 days ago
Neil deGrasse Tyson argues, and I agree, that the ability to send people, probes, satellites, etc. into space is of utmost importance on a grander scale. Imagine being a species capable of space-flight that is unable or unwilling to save itself from destruction when an asteroid comes too near. "We would be the laughing stock of the universe -- 'Oh haha, yea, look at those silly humans who could have saved themselves, but didn't.'". The space program is incredibly expensive, but what is the cost of Earth?
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