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I remember reading a definition from a DoD document for 'legitimacy': "the willingness of people to act according to the will of a government without coercive c
by jwtadvice 10y ago
I remember reading a definition from a DoD document for 'legitimacy': "the willingness of people to act according to the will of a government without coercive compulsion."
In the same vein a definition for 'power': "The degree to which outcomes can be influenced into a desirable state."
The ability to build and dissolve legitimacy absolutely is power. The ability to build consensus and through that consensus change outcomes absolutely is power.
- ArkyBeagle 10y agoI sort of disagree - I think the collective wisdom of a people is latent and needs only be discovered. It may contain inconsistencies which require professionals to help with, but the problem with your way is that people can seek power for its own sake. I think it's been shown that "desirable" is extremely fungible. Sometimes "desirable" becomes "regrettable", later on. I thank you for those definitions, though - that's some cogitatin' for me to be done there. They're kind of value-free definitions. Can't tell if that is bad or good.
- jwtadvice 10y agoTo be clear I'm not stating what I believe is the ideal for the world. I'm describing how I perceive that the world - power - and information demonstrably work today.
- ArkyBeagle 10y agoUnderstood - and I got that quite clearly. I don't know why, but I still think of this as a discovery process and less "architecture". I think "architecture" is in fashion now.