The Ear→Eye Pendulum of Governance
When rule is oral, authority clusters around memory and voice—priests, heralds, lawyers. When rule is written, power migrates to readers, printers, coders, auditors.
A simple map
- Ear phase: oath, sermon, hearing; legitimacy = lineage and charisma.
- Eye phase: code, ledger, proof; legitimacy = text and verification.
Democracy thrives in “eye” phases—rules anyone can see and check. The future may add a third sense: machine-read law that humans can audit.