Coordinating preferences across a group grows combinatorially: getting ten friends to agree on a movie requires forty-five pairwise preference comparisons, so beyond a small scale groups must adopt formal mechanisms (voting) or unilateral governance ('I'm going to this movie, join if you want')—not because of human malice but because it is the only way to manage large groups in institutional settings.

causalpending

Speaker

Clay Shirky

Evidence Quote

the requirement for unilateralism isn't a function of you know people being politically evil or whatever it's just it's the only way to manage large groups in an institutional setting

Source

Clay Shirky on Coase, Collaboration and Here Comes Everybody 10/20/2008EconTalk
Created: 6/15/2026, 9:28:59 AM

My Notes

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