Kill the Culture and Burn the Pulpit Part 1: An Analysis of a revolution

[Captain Utopia]

You've cast yourself in the role of a visionary.  Let's have some vision, okay?

I don't see myself as a visionary.  I've just been reporting on what's going on with metagovernment, noting a few trends and extrapolating a little in order to provide an answer for each criticism or doubt which has been laid against the concept of E-Democracy.

if technology allows us more hands-on participation within democracy, and everybody is using that system, it's going to take a lot of effort to actually make a signal in all that noise.

I've been chewing this one over - it raises a good question.

I guess if you look at Health Care reform or Financial reform, or any big package - I'm using the US as an example, but that's not really pertinent - then you have hundreds or thousands of different motes of law all bundled together into a single yes/no vote.  Now the game played is that Republicans and Democrats may agree on 95% or more of those provisions, but the remainder is partisan cat-nip - bundling means that the speaker of the house or whatever tries to ensure that a majority of people will just swallow the bits they don't like to get the things they do.  Then the minority party gets pissed at the attempt to force them to accept stuff they don't want.  So things then drag on for months without full agreement, when there is actually a fair amount of consensus agreement on the less controversial aspects.

Bringing all this online would mean that you could split up all these big issues into their smaller components.  You'd need some way to ensure that people can participate without being overloaded with detail, and I think issue-proxying could play a part in that, but it's not the only potential solution.

[Doktor Howl]

Oh, okay.

Someone let me know when they actually have something.

[Captain Utopia]

Will do.

In the meantime, there are over a dozen functioning projects here: http://metagovernment.org/active

At this point however, we don't know what will work best for each scale of governance.  One solution may not fit all.  It would be surprising if it did.  So people from all around the world are collaborating on ideas and testing them out.

That's where we are now, and it's not worthless just because its still in progress.

[The Wizard]

Hmm. I'm gonna keep an eye on this. Might have some uses for it at a later date.

[Captain Utopia]

Come trolljoin the mailing list with me

hxxp://metagovernment.org/mailman/listinfo/start_metagovernment.org

[Cain]

Thus it happens in matters of state; for knowing a far off (which it is only given a prudent man to do) the evils that are brewing, they are easily cured.  But when,for want of such knowledge, they are allowed to grow until everyone can recognize them, there is no longer any remedy to be found.
(The Prince, Niccolo Machiavelli [1469-1527])

Note: anything important, the government does in secrecy and obscurity. 

[Captain Utopia]

Do you foresee a time when Machiavelli is no longer relevant in world politics?  What would that world look like?

[President Television]

There's a rant in this. Will post later.

[Jasper]

Do you foresee a time when Machiavelli is no longer relevant in world politics?  What would that world look like?

Maybe someday, when people are more like spiders.  Self-sufficient, solitary, and basically mindless.

[Doktor Howl]

Do you foresee a time when Machiavelli is no longer relevant in world politics?  What would that world look like?

I'm guessing radioactive, cold, and completely inhospitable to life.

[President Television]

Do you foresee a time when Machiavelli is no longer relevant in world politics?  What would that world look like?

I'm guessing radioactive, cold, and completely inhospitable to life.