Structure is inherently centripetal.

That "center of gravity."

The totem at the center of the village.

The religion at the center of the culture.

Without which it goes Tower of Babel. Scattered to the winds.

What you need to look at is the circuit breakers that keep this inward vortex connected to the larger reality. Nodes in the network. Organisms in the ecosystem.

For example, the Ancients devised debt jubilees as circuit breakers to the feedback loop of compound interest, but here we are, stuck in the same doom loop.

I try getting people to see this;

https://medium.com/counterarts/why-the-feedback-loops-need-circuit-breakers-531d1ab0fe0f

But it seems it's too abstract. Even the wealthy don't get it, that once they totally suck society dry and it collapses, it will be the warlords in control, not the bankers.

Then, after awhile, they declare themselves kings and we start building around them.

One of the reasons history repeats itself, is because we are generally too thick headed to learn the lessons the first time.

Trial and error.