I merely note that throughout human history, status and authority seem consistently to be accorded to those who excel at non-productive or even destructive activities. The exercise of violence is probably the oldest and most obvious example of this, but many more niches were created as societies became more complex.

Status and authority as a function of parasitism... how's that for a paradigm?

The fact is that what we're experiencing right now is a top-down disaster. -Paul Krugman