To win, a side needs to stay coordinated, to act as one thing bigger than the sum of its parts.

· Bits and Bobs 8/18/25
  • To win, a side needs to stay coordinated, to act as one thing bigger than the sum of its parts.
    • That's easier if there's a schelling point, a thing that everyone takes for granted at the center.
      • Either a long-term ideal that is bigger than anyone and has been true for a hundred years.
      • Or a leader that everyone in the group acknowledges is the legitimate leader.
    • Having one leader is "efficient".
      • Less time spent disagreeing, more time figuring out how to execute.
      • But it's also low resilience.
    • If the universities had acted like one collective instead of a collection of universities they could have pushed back against authoritarian requests.
      • Individually they were easy to intimidate and pick off.
    • "United we stand, divided we fall."

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