I thought it was perhaps worth writing some brief words on this topic, given how many people mistakenly believe that anarchy equates to chaos; which is of course completely untrue. Quite to the contrary, it is hierarchy that leads to chaos; for both chaos and control are tools of hierarchy, which are used to give people a perception of security, and are thus mislabelled as bringing “order”, which would be more aptly described as domination.
But true order is actually something far more dynamic and natural than control; they are not synonymous. Order is merely where the principles and laws of the natural world are played out. Ecosystems are a great example of this, they are anarchic; wild yet ordered … and this is not the same as chaos.
Security is the illusion generated by control, but it is not real, and control is the corruption, domination & restriction of the otherwise natural order of things, to suit the agenda of a select few.
By contrast, anarchy is the lack of hierarchy and rulers, thus the lack of hierarchical control; but not necessarily the lack of rules, since the laws of nature are no longer being stifled, and hence anarchy represents a truer order of things.
The hegemony of human hierarchical power structures, is based on convincing the majority to work against their own best interests, and to accept being ruled by the desires of the few. Chaos and order are thus artificially manufactured by the same mechanisms of control, and the populace is manipulated by fear and desire. So long as they obey, they experience some degree of “security”, with random insecurity (chaos) to remind them who’s boss.
So … when I say Open Empire is non-hierarchical or anarchic, this is what I mean … the only place within the entire vision where the concept of hierarchy is used, is within the context of computer programming metaphors for the architectural design of the object models for its systems.