I think your statememt is a too one dimensional argument against any positive human change. I would rather say that history shows a constant ebb and flow of human progress and regression, and that progress, if indeed it depends on a minority of examplary people, only succeed when they have massive support, and some ideas, like the equality of men and women, the abolition of slavery, have made, at least some, progress over time. The rhizome, far from going nowhere, is becoming a mainstay of current social life, but of course, it is often embedded and mixed with other structures, this is why the rhizome, merely as a structure, is not enough.

One of the key to social change though, is to design social institutions, not based on the tiny minority of altruists, but so that individual and collective interests can converge, and I personally believe we are making substantial progress in doing this.

Your despair about human nature in this valley of tears is understandable, but I hope that it is a passing fase, and that even within the darkness, you can see the thousand points of light that are worth nurturing and spreading.

Since then my enthusiasm for the rhizome concept has waned. Why? Well, the vast majority of humanity simply wants to be distracted from having to think and put any extra effort into protecting its interests. People would rather hear about Paris Hilton’s latest escapade than dialogue about how they are being screwed over in terms of, say, access to health care in the USA. Meanwhile there is always a small minority willing to put the extra effort in necessary to seize and maintain control over the majority.

How does this happen?

Chomsky explained it best in some documentary I rented from Netflix a year ago. He was being interviewed by a British anarchist who asked him what he thought of anarchism. Chomsky responded that he couldn’t see it working simply because it requires participation in a lot of meetings and that’s something few people have the discipline and temperament for. So if you want to take-over an anarchist group just demand endless meetings and then hold the votes after everyone else has gone home.

There’s also Nietzsche’s “will to power” drive. The few that have it always manage to exploit the many that don’t. That’s why Dick Cheney is worth about $200 million while Dennis Kucinich recently reported a net worth of about $50K.

The rhizome concept will go nowhere for these reasons.