202504051619 Status: #idea Tags: #institutions #business #government #politics # Empires are fractal An empire, in its most general form, can be considered as composed of players, resources, and other empires. Players are individuals with enough power to be relevant to the overall functioning of the empire. Resources are assets that can be drawn upon by the empire - money, information, personal relationships, and physical resources. Lastly, empires contain other empires (ie they are fractal). For example, the Catholic Church is an empire, composed of its constituent clergy plus the lay members of the church. The central leader is the pope and the Vatican bureaucracy. However, an individual parish could itself be considered an empire, with its lay members and the central authority of the priest. Likewise, a business is an empire where the coordinated actors are the employees and customers, with the central power being the CEO and other executives. However, in a large company there will also be sub-empires, where a powerful manager runs a department or group. ## Related Ideas - [[Classifying empires]] - [[High power players in an empire cooperate when there are opportunities for expansion]] - [[Power in an empire is determined by control of the central sub-empire]] - [[The British Empire was built in a decentralized way]] --- # References [[Great Founder Theory]]