
On Being the Right Size (1928) - Rexxar
http://irl.cs.ucla.edu/papers/right-size.html
======
Sharlin
Somewhat related: Feynman’s classic lecture ”There’s Plenty of Room at the
Bottom”, given in 1959 (gosh, sixty years ago!)

[http://www.zyvex.com/nanotech/feynman.html](http://www.zyvex.com/nanotech/feynman.html)

Sadly, at the time it didn’t get the attention it deserved.

------
clpo13
> An angel whose muscles developed no more power weight for weight than those
> of an eagle or a pigeon would require a breast projecting for about four
> feet to house the muscles engaged in working its wings, while to economize
> in weight, its legs would have to be reduced to mere stilts.

Here's an idea for a surreal illustrated Bible.

~~~
KozmoNau7
Old style Angels were already surreal. Like a pillar of fire, seven heavens
tall.

------
jonah-archive
This is a great essay. If the topic interests you, D'Arcy Wentworth Thompson's
classic work On Growth And Form is also a worthwhile read:
[https://archive.org/details/ongrowthform00thom](https://archive.org/details/ongrowthform00thom)

------
sram1337
Surface area to volume ratio. As something gets smaller, it has more surface
relative to its volume.

It explains why shoestring fries are so tasty. More fried surface, less potato

------
gowld
The article's closing point about socialism is strange. It is likely
conflating "socialism" with "command economy".

As we have learned in the past Century, democracy has trouble scaling to
300million people as well. The problem is the single leader for a large
population. Confederated/Federalized systems may do better, and those can be
"socialist".

~~~
nordsieck
Socialism: a political and economic theory of social organization that
advocates that the means of production, distribution, and exchange should be
owned or regulated by the community as a whole.

I think you're confused. Socialism competes with capitalism as an economic
system, not democracy as a political system.

~~~
boxed
“or regulated” covers modern democracies fine.

------
gowld
_Why Elephants Have Big Ears_ is a nice book that covers similar topics.

