Excellent essay from Brendan McCord on Greatness and the Machine.

"In the aristocratic era, everyone had bonds of obligation, to those above and below them.

Under conditions of equality, no one owes anything to anyone.

As a result, they turn inwards, towards a small circle of families and friends.

Tocqueville called this individualism.

He didn't mean this as a compliment.

He wasn't talking about an artist's individuality or the pioneer's self-reliance.

Instead, he meant individuals retreating into a private sphere where they no longer saw the need to expend effort on strangers."