Full republish from John Robb, stimulating as usual. My own comment is below.

John Robb:

“Here is some thinking that you might find interesting.

Here’s a simplification of the historical pattern of Reformation. Think of it in terms of the global Capitalist system:

* Universal system.
* Compliance and participation enforced by violence.
* Bureaucratic and lethargic. Corrupt and unfair. Hardship and misery.
* Loss of legitimacy.
* Challenged by reformers. Corruption exposed.
* New technology unleashes a cacophony of criticism.
* Reforms are rejected by the existing bureaucracy.
* New, competitive systems are launched.
* An exodus begins. People leave the old system to join the new.
* The old system fights back. A fight ensues between the old and the new.
* Eventually a peace is achieved and a new era begins.

Note that a Reformation doesn’t mean complete rejection of the current system. It means a rejection of the existing implementation/hierarchy/rules due to corruption, failure, and injustice. “

My own commentary:

“John, the change did not end with the ‘peace’ between the feudal tradition and the reformation … just a bit later, feudalism was actually replaced by capitalism, of which the Reform turned out to be part of (as cultural prerequisite).

Also, one can extrapolate from the already existing triune institutional framework of peer production (commons = civil society at the core; the for-benefit institution managing the infrastructure of cooperation = the Partner State; the entrepreurial coalition working with the commons = the Reformed Private Sector) to have an inkling of what the nature of the new social order will be.”