Underlying Protocols, Power Variables, and National Destiny: A Causal Analysis

To adapt to complex social interactions, humans have developed an "underlying protocol" in the course of evolution—one that balances self-interest and fairness and is characterized by tension and elasticity. Like "an ancient weighing scale in the human psyche", interdisciplinary experiments and studies in evolutionary science, anthropology, game theory, and other fields confirm that the function of the underlying protocol is an objective existence that transcends individual will and class positions. The rapid collapse of the Soviet-style socialist bloc, the social prosperity of contemporary "full-fledged democratic" blocs, and comparisons between the periodic rise and fall of China’s patrimonial bureaucratic dynasties and the 15 historically enduring states (each lasting over 500 years) all indicate a direct causal relationship between this underlying protocol and the fate of nations (encompassing enduring prosperity and viability)—with power being an exceptionally unique variable.