At least for the most recent few thousand years, humans have always organized according to the "many followers/few leaders" principle. Here we are, so I guess it works. For a long time it seemed a though a corollary aspect of this principle was that the respective groups periodically reversed roles, i.e. the French Revolution. As the rate of change has accelerated over time, many have speculated as to whether this group reversal/instability will continue or whether we will reach some optimized pattern/form. This presumed form is, of course, the planatary adoption of global capitalism expressed in it's present monopoly configuration.
Perhaps it will prove true that, classical distributed capitalism, energized by the extraordinary benefits of modern technology, will morph into John Galt's perpetual motion machine. Well, at least it kinda looks that way, when generation after generation the "rich and famous leaders" and the "main-street followers" continue to enthusiastically play their respective roles. The monopolizing leaders authoritatively manage the followers appetite for goods and services, offer a living wage to the followers to produce the goods and services, and then reap the margin benefits of the followers purchasing the produced goods and services at monopoly enabled prices. The derived margins produce low risk profits for the leader class who carefully constrain reinvestment options to protect against any erosion of their monopoly status.
True, historical capitalism sans cyber, the wonder of Western Civilization did pull humanity out of the mass deprevation and oppression of antiquity. Now, however, in todays technology enabled consumer driven world, we, the freed, have constructed an economic prison from which we may never escape. Hi-Ho, Hi-Ho, if off to Walmart we go!
Of course that is the bad news, at least ontologically speaking. In fairness, the good news is that, although we are doomed,, at least now we all have a 4K-TV........ and we have fulfilled the prophecy that "the poor will be with us always"..