Police: Heroes or Villains?

[Russian SPD]

Corporations (PMCs included) are powerless without the law to back them up, and rank-and-file employees (i.e. working class just like you and me) to do the dirty work. If society collapsed into total anarchy, it would be every man and woman for themselves; do you really think no one will turn against their employers for either self gain or revenge? Many would with the way companies treat workers like shit.

The only things keeping a phalanx of disciplined troops from becoming a lawless horde of marauders are money and laws. Take away both and bam, those soldiers have no more incentive to remain loyal to their superiors. Otherwise Putin's men would all be fighting to the death; not surrendering in droves.

Why today, at a time when pieces of the earth are economically connected to each other, small groups could not take power in the case of anarchy, despite the fact that they have done so since, if my memory serves me, 4 millennia BC?

[Zerotaxia]

Corporations (PMCs included) are powerless without the law to back them up, and rank-and-file employees (i.e. working class just like you and me) to do the dirty work. If society collapsed into total anarchy, it would be every man and woman for themselves; do you really think no one will turn against their employers for either self gain or revenge? Many would with the way companies treat workers like shit.

The only things keeping a phalanx of disciplined troops from becoming a lawless horde of marauders are money and laws. Take away both and bam, those soldiers have no more incentive to remain loyal to their superiors. Otherwise Putin's men would all be fighting to the death; not surrendering in droves.

Why today, at a time when pieces of the earth are economically connected to each other, small groups could not take power in the case of anarchy, despite the fact that they have done so since, if my memory serves me, 4 millennia BC?

A functioning hierarchy requires its subordinates to obey every order without question. This does not come free; they will expect something out of it in return, e.g. money or food. Disrupt that symbiotic relationship and now you've suddenly got disgruntled workers among your ranks who will reconsider their loyalty. Without the law (and law enforcement) to uphold that arrangement, it becomes a free-for-all since authority will cease to be effective; only guns and ammo. And those with the biggest guns, i.e. the low ranking troops not the bosses, will now have all the power.

[Austria-Bohemia-Hungary]

Why today, at a time when pieces of the earth are economically connected to each other, small groups could not take power in the case of anarchy, despite the fact that they have done so since, if my memory serves me, 4 millennia BC?

A functioning hierarchy requires its subordinates to obey every order without question. This does not come free; they will expect something out of it in return, e.g. money or food. Disrupt that symbiotic relationship and now you've suddenly got disgruntled workers among your ranks who will reconsider their loyalty.

Are you saying that you still haven't figured out the point of trade despite 12,000+ years of human history?

[Zerotaxia]

A functioning hierarchy requires its subordinates to obey every order without question. This does not come free; they will expect something out of it in return, e.g. money or food. Disrupt that symbiotic relationship and now you've suddenly got disgruntled workers among your ranks who will reconsider their loyalty.

Are you saying that you still haven't figured out the point of trade despite 12,000+ years of human history?

Not everyone was a trader then; some were highwaymen and pirates.

[Austria-Bohemia-Hungary]

Are you saying that you still haven't figured out the point of trade despite 12,000+ years of human history?

Not everyone was a trader then; some were highwaymen and pirates.

So
You still haven't figured out the point of trade and scratching eachother's backs despite 12,000+ years of humans doing exactly that.
Good to know.

[Zerotaxia]

What I'm saying is not everyone plays by the rules; then or now.

[Austria-Bohemia-Hungary]

What I'm saying is not everyone plays by the rules; then or now.

Please review the basics of what a society is before you have the audacity to lecture me.

[Russian SPD]

A functioning hierarchy requires its subordinates to obey every order without question. This does not come free; they will expect something out of it in return, e.g. money or food. Disrupt that symbiotic relationship and now you've suddenly got disgruntled workers among your ranks who will reconsider their loyalty. Without the law (and law enforcement) to uphold that arrangement, it becomes a free-for-all since authority will cease to be effective; only guns and ammo. And those with the biggest guns, i.e. the low ranking troops not the bosses, will now have all the power.

For some reason, I am sure that today, as in the past, there will definitely appear:
1. Armed gangs with foremen (there are no completely egalitarian gangs in nature)
2. Civil authorities of some other kind because today the American, European, etc. economy is more complicated than plowed-sowed-harvested-plowed. The Mesopotamians needed them to dig canals, modern enterprises are hardly simpler.

And... hello, state!

[Austria-Bohemia-Hungary]

Speaking of canals, you need to not only dig them but continually maintain them or they will become muddy lakes in short order, and there will be no more water for your potatoes.
Who will do this in an anarchy? Who will feed, clothe and equip the canal diggers, who has a job that is not immediately obviously beneficial?

[Ifreann]

Speaking of canals, you need to not only dig them but continually maintain them or they will become muddy lakes in short order, and there will be no more water for your potatoes.
Who will do this in an anarchy?

People with the relevant expertise.

Who will feed, clothe and equip the canal diggers, who has a job that is not immediately obviously beneficial?

Their community. And really, this is a very poor argument against anarchism. Many states, despite their veritable armies of bureaucrats and civil engineers, routinely neglect infrastructure to the point of utter failure. Governments rarely take interest in such projects, both because they do little to impress the public, and because they are near worthless in attracting lobbyists. Giving the contract for a new dam or bridge or canal? That's a big deal. People will fight for your attention on that. Deciding the budget to maintain existing dams, bridge, and canals? No one cares. Long term thinking is not incentivised.