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Comment by yks | Hacker News Reader

It turns out, dictatorship is not a superior form of governance because eventually all important positions are taken by people loyal but otherwise inept. Realistic assessments never reach decision-makers, unfounded optimism sets in and when the plans meet reality, everything falls apart.

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When the room is full of Yes Men, that room is not a truthful room.

Also applies to tech industry - big lesson for management that cannot work with people who disagree.

Sounds like my 9-to-5.

I wouldn’t go that far. Dictatorship can be highly successful if the dictator incentivizes competence.

True, but competence tends to come with ambition.

Examples?

Genghis Khan was a monster, but he rewarded success regardless of almost all other factors.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Genghis_Khan#Politics_and_econ...

Yep, idiots get placed in high positions because they are loyal, not because they have talent. Same with the military. I'm not saying that doesn't happen in the USA and other countries, but it happens much less often because you have other parties to call it out. In Russia, everything traces back to Putin and his talentless goons. I think China somewhat gets around this a bit because they have centuries long bent towards meritocracy, although I'm sure plenty of people reach high level that have no talent for it, just not to the extent that a country like Russia sees.

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