Great Founder Theory
May 9th, 2025
Great Founder Theory is a collection of essays by Samo Burja. I was introduced to his writing by my good friend Daniel while taking a politics class of Daniel’s in NYC (quick plug for Maximum New York). We specifically covered the essays on “Social technology” and “Alive vs. Dead Players” which are still two of my favorite essays in the collection. The text sits at ~170 pages, but it wasn’t particularly a quick read for me. I tried to engage deeply with the material, following rabbit holes (ended up purchasing a copy of The Analects of Confucius) and applying his mental models to my personal worldview.
I thoroughly enjoyed Samo’s writing and the terms of art he used throughout (the titles of the two essays mentioned above are among my favorite). This is actually my favorite part — it’s not often I come out of a book with many new terms to use. He used citations generously which expanded my already-too-long reading list even further. I want to keep these notes fairly light, so I’ll enumerate my favorite essays along with a brief overview of what I took away from them:
Social Technology — Social technology, unlike material technology, describes the structures and norms that we use to operate society successfully. This ranges from politeness to law and government. I had never really examined structures like manners or prestige and though deeply about their impact on society prior to reading this essay.Honors Fuel Achievement — This essay, combined with Social Technology, explores the role of prestige and status within society. He argues that prestige and honor within society fuels achievement more than money does. By shaping how we allocate prestige, we can shape society itself.Live versus Dead Players — Samo distinguishes between a live player as one that can innovate, adapt, and do new things, while a dead player as one that can simply live out past successes or what it has done in the past. Live players challenge the status quo, while dead players maintain it. I want to be a live player.What Botswana Can Teach Us About Political Stability — Samo explores how Botswana’s adoptive monarchy leads to effective leadership transitions despite the significant adversity that the country faces. Considering a succession structure like this, compared to the democratic system that we use in the US, is an interesting thought exercise. It got me thinking about traditional monarchies and whether a democracy could have succeeded at all points in human history. A lot of known unknowns for me to explore here.I highly recommend taking a read. If/when you do, or if you’ve read it already, I’d love an email with your thoughts at austin [at] austinnick [dot] blog
