[P2P-F] Fwd: Ancient Athens didn't have politicians. Is there a lesson for us?

Mon Jan 14 11:18:51 CET 2013

Some thoughts then.

Surely "random" democracy can work if we split society on professions. Then
We pass a law that forces any knowledge that affects society to be open
sourced.
Since any person in a profession can be chosen to govern, we continue to
have strong guarantees.

Now, Personally, I have noticed that almost 99% of my decisions/opinions
are based on incomplete knowledge. I had been taught by math professors
that were great in their mathematical work but then reverted in
old style imprecise decision making in their real lives. One person simply
cant acquire all knowledge.

That is why I am building a project in which knowledge is propagated
through trust. Think of it like a forkable wiki with twitter features, ie
new pages are sent to you only by those you trust.
I didnt have any time to look at it from a theoretical point, but It tries
to deal with the problem of complexity.it tries to empower people to make
their decisions more accurately.

Liquid democracy is similar in nature. You give your voting rights to a
trusted person.

So the way forward in my opinion is this. We build democratic tools for
society. We analyze their weaknesses and then start all over again.

2013/1/14 M. Fioretti <mfioretti at nexaima.net>

> On Sun, Jan 13, 2013 15:19:28 PM -0800, Karl Robillard wrote:
> > On Saturday, January 12, 2013 04:44:37 PM M. Fioretti wrote:
> > > I really think that the first thing that made the "Athenian model"
> > > possible in the first place was that their world was much simpler and
> > > smaller.
> >
> > That's true that they lived in a less complex environment, but we
> > have much better techniques and tools to handle complexity here in
> > 2013.
>
> I don't think that this, even if true, is sufficient, or maybe even
> relevant.
>
> For example, here in 2013 we also have computer interfaces that handle
> the complexity of computers much better than 10/15 years ago.
>
> If what you write were true, or sufficient, by now (almost) ALL
> computer users would be able to use their computer decently, rather
> than just as digital typewriters or super television sets.
>
> Complexity is complex, no matter how you dress it, and people are
> different. Some "bleed" when thinking about fiscal issues, others when
> exposed to biology. You can't eliminate that.
>
> This said, I do agree that current technology can do and should do a
> LOT to expose and eliminate unnecessary complexity period, regardless
> of who has to make decisions afterwards. But expecting that literally
> intended direct democracy can work in a society that wants to use
> nanotechnology, global telecom networks and so on is not realistic,
> imho.
>
> Marco
>
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-- 

Sincerely yours,

     Apostolis Xekoukoulotakis
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