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[–]thefirststoneThat's my purse! I don't know you! 1 insightful - 1 fun1 insightful - 0 fun2 insightful - 1 fun -  (2 children)

How "high-trust" are these hypothetical neighbors if they trust me so little to defend myself or shape my own property without "setting me straight"?

Central control replaces higher purposes with some ruler's purpose, with the assumption he can account for all possibilities. When the machines come which actually can do that, my argument will not change.

[–]radicalcentristNational Centrism 2 insightful - 1 fun2 insightful - 0 fun3 insightful - 1 fun -  (1 child)

I see it as reciprocal.

The police & army still trust you enough to leave you alone. They're not invading your privacy or following you to work. However, they still need to exist because what if you are planning a crime or suddenly "snap" one day and take your vengeance out on other people?

It also prevents society from breaking down into complete anarchy because everyone thinks laws are now unjust or that they deserve to be king.

Central control replaces higher purposes with some ruler's purpose, with the assumption he can account for all possibilities.

The ruler's purpose would need to benefit everyone in order to prevent an uprising. And any smart King would have advisors or lower ranking members to oversee activities that the King/Queen can't always account for. That's also true of any Republican society.

There are elected Presidents, but we also have Army Generals, Departments of Education, Healthcare, Chief of Police etc.

[–]thefirststoneThat's my purse! I don't know you! 1 insightful - 1 fun1 insightful - 0 fun2 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

because what if you are planning a crime or suddenly "snap" one day and take your vengeance out on other people?

Baking that assumption into society suggests there are deeper problems, but let's ignore that. Why can't the king's subjects defend themselves against sudden-onset brain damage, just like they do invaders?

Benign monarchy has its positives (like having somebody specific to blame, instead of the mutual mistrust that develops in a dissatisfied democracy), but not all historical kings could or would use mercenaries for defense. Those that did sometimes regretted it.