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And yet it seems resilient enough that European countries are importing low-skilled third-world people without any concern for the frafile framework of mutual trust and playing by the rules you speak of.Well, it's a huge issue in Europe now, creating a lot of mess. The tension between member countries of the EU has increased, and some people worry that the whole issue may actually turn into a civil war. The world isn't limited to having only one problem at a time.
> Not to mention your argument sounds suspiciously like Intelligent Design believers explaining how the universe was obviously created by god since it is built on a fragile interplay of fine tuned distances and sizes and if only they were slightly different humans wouldn't exist!
Did not see that coming... I don't see anyting but superficial similarities. The difference is, we've seen how societies big and small form and evolve over time. We've been observing it for thousands of years, and we took notes. We know what happens when the rule of law breaks, how fragile it is. It's all within-the-system, there is no need to postulate an external omnipotent actor.
EDIT to reply to 'planfaster's edit:
I don't see where I introduce government as an external actor. Government is a completely in-system being, it's something that occurs naturally whenever a society grows past certain size, when it can no longer hold together by enforcing the rules directly through day-to-day interaction between its members. It's just a more formal form of in-group coordination, and a common pattern in all human organizations - companies, churches, clubs, etc. Hell, it's even the base of multicellular life itself (also note that we have a name for cells that refuse to coordinate with the rest of the organism and instead decide to grow as much as they like - they're called cancer).
A government is something a society forms that allows it to grow beyond a very small size. I implore you to show me a thriving organization or society with more than 500 members that doesn't have a formalized set of rules and governance.
My point against Uber would work the same way if "Uber" was just a village asshole with a horse, going against the "rules that apply to everyone without exception".
But if you want to play it as religious debate, then tell me please, who paid for the roads and the schools and police? How do you call the entity that orders those projects and distributes the resources to accomplish them?