202508291145 Status: #idea Tags: #society #institutions #government #technology # Social technology as a hypernode graph problem Society can be thought of as a hypernode graph where each node can be a graph in its own right. A hypernode graph is a graph where each node can contain another complete graph structure. This creates a hierarchical, fractal-like organization where patterns repeat at different scales. When we apply this model to society, we can understand how social technologies operate at different levels of organization - individual, family, community, nation, etc. The key aspect of a culture is which level of the hypernode graph it emphasizes and optimizes for. For example, individualistic cultures optimize primarily for the individual node level, while collectivistic cultures might optimize for higher-level nodes like community or nation. The social technologies (laws, customs, institutions) that a society develops will reflect which levels of the hypernode graph are prioritized. This framework helps explain why certain social technologies work well in some contexts but fail in others - they may be optimized for different levels of the hypernode graph structure. ## Related Ideas - [[Social technologies are the operating system for a civilization]] - [[Empires are fractal]] - [[Great institutions require planning and insight from the beginning]] - [[Maintaining functional institutions requires skill succession and power succession]] --- # References [[Great Founder Theory]]