I find this thought experiment is very helpful in understanding *how we got into this position over the last few hundred years
There's a danger in doing this: assuming that the reasons and forces for centralization in the past hold the same today. All else being equal, that would be true, but all else is not equal. The big difference: decentralizing technology. Bitcoin and Nostr are wonderful examples of how technology can force decentralization of power and make those who choose it much harder to govern.