In short, the thing I learned is the power of Hereditary Rule. I'm not entirely sure what to think about this, since HR is so far down a largely useless path. I hate to put effort into so many dumb techs. Still, it's undeniable that it is very very powerful. He has proved it. In fact, the big research advantage that ABCF has today is not because of his choice of capital location (I still think Snaaty found the best location of all and that mine is pretty much equivalent to the start) but rather because of his research path.
There's another thing about this game which is strange. We are Philosophical. So where in the Name of the Gods is the GP farm? Not one player, myself included, has ever had the semblance of one. At this level it's embarrassing. Really.