There are special periods in history where the pattern of what's to come is not set in stone. When I've read about the "Old Northwest" frontier (Ohio prior to settlement), I had the distinct impression that people could have selected among several distinct outcomes. In the late 18th century as frontiersmen and adventurers made their way across the Ohio river into Indian territory, there was no set pattern for the region. The colonial, and then US government were very weak and had no authority in that area. The tribes could have set the tone, but they failed to do so.
The tribes failed to recognize the passing of their era, and their severe disadvantage. The frontiersmen and early settlers mostly lacked the long term vision to work with the tribes or to do anything different than transform the territory into a version of New England, which was a version of Europe, which was a version of the Eurasian Steppe.
The way of life of the Indians had valuable lessons for the settlers, and vice versa, but there was actually very little hybridization of their culture even though they were neighbors for centuries. There's a fairly compelling positive argument to be made for the tribes' methods of organizing territory along natural boundaries, like watersheds and managing natural areas compared to the settlers approach, which severely degraded vast regions. For example, in only about 30 years, the tiny population of settlers completely wiped out most game species in Northeast Ohio. The arbitrary grid-like division of the US versus a more natural approach is a fingerprint of the collective mind and ideas of the European people of the 18th century.
When confronted with a novel, or chaotic situation, people tend to fall into scripted roles. (This is a secret mechanism that small groups of oligarchs use to control masses of people.) A much better outcome might be achieved by a sort of game, where the scripts and archetypes are brought forth into the conscious minds of many people.
Most of the actions of the oligarchs that create chaos revolve around compelling people to adopt short schedules for changes. In the case of the Ohio territory, for example, land companies were created to "sell" territories that were "acquired" from Indians through bogus deals. The monetization of the land of the US created a project oriented time table so the investors could be paid back. That compelled settlers to do retarded things, like burn down all the trees on their land.
Such compulsion drives people to be retarded and make bad choices en masse on behalf of truly vile and evil people.
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