Interesting piece by New York Times columnist David Brooks, on how society has changed over time, especially in the last few decades from large unvarying but stable social systems, e.g. feudalism or Victorian England to give rise to the smaller and more dynamic social networks, in which we live today.

It’s good news for people who shine:

We have gone from a society that protected people from their frailties to a society that allows people to maximize their talents.

But there are also negative consequences for those who don’t:

People with skills can really thrive in this tenuous, networked society. People without those advantages would probably be better off if we could build new versions of the settled, stable and thick arrangements we’ve left behind.

which, to this American, seems like what the social systems of Europe have figured out and others haven’t.