The emergence of Zohran Mamdani “from nowhere” is yet another sign that “elite overproduction” (a term coined years ago by social scientist Peter Turchin) in an age of automation will give rise to serious political upheaval, a topic I first discussed in an article for National Review in 2016. To oversimplify, elite overproduction describes a state of affairs in which members of the “elite” (or those with the talents to join it) become too numerous for society to accommodate their aspirations. That leads to frustration and, more specifically, the formation of a “counter-elite” set on reorganizing society in a way ...