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To say that people are not smart enough to run their own affairs is quite interesting. I'm not sure how to reply to that. Say we converted social news sites in
by bokonist 17y ago
To say that people are not smart enough to run their own affairs is quite interesting. I'm not sure how to reply to that.
Say we converted social news sites into voting platforms. Would you rather be ruled be Hacker News or Digg?
Votes are power, not freedom. I believe the average person is smart enough to run his own affairs. I do not believe the average person is smart enough to run my affairs.
- DanielBMarkham 17y ago"I believe the average person is smart enough to run his own affairs. I do not believe the average person is smart enough to run my affairs." Neither do I. And I don't believe it is a matter of smarts. I don't believe anybody should run my affairs, smart or not. But that's a structural question: the limits of voting power. Can the majority force the minority into slavery? Can the majority overtax the minority? Etc. All great structural questions. Or to put it in a non-political venue: should database designers have final say over persistence mechanisms on a team? Should teams vote to decide what they can accomplish by a milestone or should a few decide?
- bokonist 17y agoWithin a territory, you'll always have one actor who is the ultimate arbiter - ie, the government. Ideally, that government would be a neutral judge who simply enforces common law, and not a meddlesome theocrat who tells me how to live. But what selection process is most likely to result in arbiter that pleases you? Selection by Hacker News, or selection by Digg?