Posted by fschmidt on
URL: https://coalpha.arkian.net/Misuse-of-terms-like-alpha-tp6095159p6156777.html

All social categories are just groupings.  They aren't perfect.  There are always in-between cases.  But I think there is a fundamental difference between a leader of the people, by the people, for the people, and a tyrant with no limits.  The transition in our culture was gradual beginning with the Magna Carta.

I am reminded of Xenophon's Anabasis which describes his adventures as a Greek mercenary in Persia.  He fought for the king's brother who lost to the king and was killed.  The king then wanted to eliminate the mercenaries but they continued to defend themselves.  So the king called for a meeting with the leaders of the mercenaries, and when they met, the king killed the leaders.  The king just assumed that the mercenaries would disintegrate without their leaders.  This is what would happen in an alpha/beta army.  But the Greeks were co-alphas and they immediately elected new leaders, so they continued to defend themselves.

America today is in transition from a co-alpha society to something else.  The real power in America today rests with the financial elite, not with elected government.  One standard trait of a co-alpha society is trust between men and this clearly has been lost.

Even in a co-alpha group, some co-alphas will be more alpha and some will be more beta.  The more alpha ones will take leadership roles.  As I said, social categories aren't perfect.

The height issue probably matters most in a disintegrating culture where every man is for himself.  Just out of curiosity, I looked up the heights of American presidents which can be seen here.  Women got the vote at the 28th president.  What you can see from the graph is that the height of presidents varied much more before women got the vote than after.  In a more co-alpha society, one would expect height to matter less because trust would be valued more and intimidation would be valued less.