Joining #mastodon has reminded me how much #UX is a form of community politics. Discussions over usability, searchability, federability (sounds awkward but you know what I mean) -- these reflect debates we are having right now in many aspiring democracies. Where do we want people to live? What will we build to make it easy to get around? What kinds of social services should be available? How do we manage borders? UX choices are political choices, and it's important to treat them as such.
I have actually been re-reading parts of The Federalist Papers to get a deep background on what federation has meant in an American political context. Obviously Mastodon is not American the way Twitter and Facebook/Instagram are, so I realize this only gives me a narrow historical view. But it's still very interesting to think about.
AIUI many Native American societies had multiple levels of organization along with check & balance systems (some historians say many of these ideas were appropriated by the American colonizers, other historians are mute on this subject). It’s interesting that many articles I’ve seen equate “tribe” and “nation”; I don’t believe this is accurate, and IMHO it’s done to make Native societies seem less sophisticated than they were.