The Subjugation Loop: A Failure Mode in Human Civilization

Summary

Human societies repeatedly collapse into mass violence following power vacuums. This pattern is often treated as a moral failure, cultural flaw, or historical inevitability. This essay proposes a different explanation: a primal defensive instinct that once aided survival but now destabilizes large-scale civilization.

I call this loop "Subjugate or Be Subjugated".

Understanding and pre-empting this loop may be essential to preserving democratic systems during moments of crisis.


1. The Core Instinct

At the biological level, humans evolved in small groups where loss of status could mean death, exile, or reproductive failure. In that context, seizing dominance preemptively was often adaptive.

In modern societies, this instinct persists - but the environment has changed.

When a power vacuum emerges (the fall of a ruler, collapse of an institution, or breakdown of order), many actors experience survival panic. Under panic, cognition compresses into a binary:

"If I do not seize control, someone else will - and I will be subjugated."

This is not ideology.

It is not necessarily malice.

It is a fear-driven survival heuristic.


2. Dominance vs. Subjugation (A Critical Distinction)

To clarify the moral and political stakes, it is essential to distinguish two often-confused concepts:

* Dominance
The existence of leadership, hierarchy, influence, or asymmetric power.
Dominance is inevitable in any complex system and is not inherently immoral.

* Subjugation
The removal of agency, rights, and exit options from others in order to secure one’s own safety or power.
Subjugation is a moral choice.

Civilizations do not fail because dominance exists.

They fail when panic convinces actors that subjugation is necessary for survival.


3. Why Cooperation Fails Under Panic

In theory, mutual restraint is possible.
In practice, panic destroys trust.

Each actor believes:

* Others may be pretending to cooperate
* Delay increases personal risk
* Seizing control "first" is safer than waiting

This transforms politics into a zero-sum scramble for "the chair", even among actors who would otherwise prefer shared governance.

The result:

* Preemptive power grabs
* Radicalization
* Cycles of repression and revolt
* Civil war or authoritarian consolidation


4. Institutions as Anti-Subjugation Technology

Democratic institutions are best understood not as moral ideals alone, but as engineering solutions to this problem.

They function by:

* Constraining how power can be used
* Distributing authority so no single actor must seize total control to feel safe
* Providing credible exit paths from leadership
* Replacing personal fear with rule-bound predictability

Where these constraints are trusted, panic is reduced.
Where they are absent or collapse, the subjugation loop activates.


5. The Role of Pre-Commitment

The critical failure point is timing.

Once panic has begun, moral appeals are ineffective.
Rationalizations dominate.
Every action feels defensive.

Therefore, restraint must be pre-committed, not improvised.

This leads to a simple principle:

"People must decide before crisis that subjugation is unacceptable - even when fear makes it tempting."

This is not pacifism.
It is not weakness.
It is a deliberate choice to channel competition through constrained systems rather than absolute control.


6. A Simple Pledge

One way to encode this pre-commitment is through an explicit identity statement:

"I pledge allegiance to use my reason to oppose the subjugation of my species."

The purpose of such a pledge is not symbolism.
It is identity anchoring - a reminder that even during crisis, power must be constrained, and that installing systems of shared governance is preferable to personal mastery.


7. Why This Matters

History suggests that:
* Power vacuums are inevitable
* Fear is predictable
* Violence is not caused by ignorance, but by panic-driven certainty

If we want fewer catastrophes, we must design societies - and internal norms - that anticipate this failure mode.

Civilization survives not by eliminating dominance, but by preventing subjugation when fear is highest.


Closing Thought

The question is not whether humans will compete for power.

The question is whether, when fear strikes, we will:
* Grab absolute control to protect ourselves
or
* Build systems that protect everyone - including ourselves - without destroying the whole.

That choice must be made before panic makes it feel impossible.