Minimum Civilization Requirements
This is a copy of a conversation between ChatGPT & Scott Bryan. Scott said: I ran across an interesting question. What’s the bare minimum number of people necessary to establish, maintain, and operate a civilization? My intuition says one . Although that individual would face a large number of conflicts of interest. I know it’s an extremely silly question. Sometimes entertaining such perspectives yields unexpected results. I’m wondering what you make of it. ChatGPT said: It’s a delightfully strange and fertile question — not silly at all. Entertaining edge cases like this can clarify the contours of concepts we take for granted. Let's unpack it. First, your intuition: one. That’s compelling in a Robinson Crusoe sense. One person can embody the full machinery of a civilization in miniature — labor, governance, culture, memory, even a legal system if they talk to themselves. They can maintain tools, pass on knowledge through diaries, and build rituals. But this is m...