We humans do best when we organize ourselves in groups of 5 to 150 people. That is, groups of the size we evolved to live and work in for a million years.
We humans work best at our natural scale.
The most pleasant and high-performing human groups are the ones organized at Stone Age scale. For example:
- The number of men on-field on a sports team is 5 to 15: roughly the size of a Stone Age big-game hunting party.
- The typical baby shower includes the same number of women—10 to 25—as lived in an average hunter-gatherer band.
- Factories are most efficient when they employ no more than 150 people. This is the upper size limit of a nomadic band.
Since we humans evolved to operate in groups of 150 people or fewer, that’s the natural size for human organizations, and the scale at which we work best.
In tough situations, we organize at this scale.
When it comes to military operations, where the stakes are life-and-death, we have always organized ourselves at our natural human scale. For example:
- In the U.S. Army, the smallest fighting unit is the squad. At 8 to 12 people, it’s the size of a Roman contubernium. It’s also the size of a Stone Age big-game hunting party.
- The U.S. Army’s base unit, the company, has around 150 people. It’s around the same size as a Roman centuria. It’s also the size of a large nomadic band.
How could this rule of scale be applied?
The rule of organizing at human scale could be applied to municipal planning, in the form of 25-family neighborhoods. Instead of sprawling suburbs or huge apartment buildings, people would live in compact neighborhoods of 100-150 people.
The base political unit could be that neighborhood. Instead of voting for officials they’ve never met in person, people would vote for a neighborhood Elder, who could then run for Representative of ten such neighborhoods.
