They say the brain is where our consciousness exists, what we actually are. But I think it’s suspicious that we only have the brain’s opinion on that.
I would vote for buff Plato. His abs have the ideal form.
Diogenes would have been a great king of the universe, specifically because he wouldn’t have wanted the part.
Casually laying out biblical punishment after insulting some hypocrisy or another. In want that God
“Democracy is the worst system of government, except for all the others”
I still can’t find a way to disprove this statement. Popular vote inherently favors the majority as opposed to minorities and only cares about charisma. And yet, nothing else seems to beat it.
The only one I could think of is putting in a guy/AI that’s really benevolent and competent this time guys I pinky swear.
Hot take but i agree with Plato on the first half. People are too dumb, blind, and easily manipulated for a democracy.
But obviously a benevolent, kind, and uncoercible king with the interests of the people at heart is not realistic.I dont have a solution. 🤷♂️
People often pull out the supposed quote from Churchill that “democracy is the worst system, except all the others”. But, they omit an important bit from the actual quote:
Many forms of Government have been tried, and will be tried in this world of sin and woe. No one pretends that democracy is perfect or all-wise. Indeed it has been said that democracy is the worst form of Government except for all those other forms that have been tried from time to time.…
IMO, a critical part of that quote is “that have been tried”. The US is especially dumb here. A bunch of 25-year-old aristocrats from 250 years ago tried to design a government system. They did a pretty good job. But, they weren’t political geniuses, or if they were, they were heavily biased by the times they lived in. They came along nearly 200 years before the development of game theory, let alone centuries of work in political science. The constitution should be a living document, learning from the mistakes those 25 year olds made.
They didn’t understand the degree to which parties would take over. They didn’t know about game theory showing that a FPTP system inevitably devolves into a 2-party system. They thought about the threat of a demagogue in the president’s chair, but they were blind to the idea that he’d be the head of a party, and his party would prevent impeachment.
Unless it’s too late, the US should start amending the constitution and fixing these bugs. But, instead it’s seen as a holy document that should no longer be changed.
The last few centuries have been a process of taking power away from a hereditary class and distributing it to the people. But, the name “aristocrat” actually suggests why that form of government was supposed to be good. “Aristos” -> the best. “Kratos” -> rule. Aristocracy was supposed to be the “best” people ruling the country. It was the people who were educated from birth about how to govern ruling over peasants who had no education or knowledge of the world. Of course, the fact it was hereditary meant that the kratos were no longer really aristos.
But, maybe, there’s a germ of an idea there. For example, it makes no sense that education policy be decided by a cabinet member / minister who is elected by being the least bad option in some random district, then joining the inner circle of the leader, then being appointed in charge of education. The people making decisions on educational policy should be educators: teachers, professors, scientists who study learning, etc. Of course, you need checks and balances, and maybe popular voting should be part of that, but not in the current way. Maybe professional organizations and unions should have a formal role in government, instead of simply having to spend money to lobby the education minister.
I don’t know the solution either. But, what I know is that we should still be searching. Maybe the US is too far gone, but other countries should be coming up with new tweaks to their systems. Maybe (hopefully) that will mean less direct voting, and more decisions made by subject-matter experts.
When you think about it, it’s pretty unreasonable to expect the entire population to become educated and engaged about everything involving running a modern society. Modern government is incredibly complicated. It’s no wonder that tribalism wins over nuance. Who has time for nuance when they’re worried about their jobs and families?
That’s why I’d like to see some form of sortition tried. Draft a jury to do nothing but learn about a single topic for a period of time. Make all of their contact with the outside world public record to ensure nothing shady is going on. Let representatives from all sides of the issue address them. Then let them make their decisions and go back to their normal lives. No campaign donors or political careers to worry about.
In order for that to happen we all first need to chill. Most people’s lives are just too hectic due to the strain the system puts on them.
I have: automate the government.
And who will create the automaton? How do we select people to maintain the automaton that will play the role of government?
That automatic government has to be created by a group of people. How do you plant to select them? The government automaton would also need to be maintained, as it is impossible for the authors of the machine to predict what humanity is going to look like 500 years from now. How do you select those?
The logic of “code is impartial, therefore code should be law” is flawed because code as to be written by someone, and that someone is not impartial.
Funny enough, the original Greek meaning of “idiot” was not a dumb person, but a “private” person who keeps to themselves and refuses to take part in politics. So, this usage is correct.
JFF: In Germany we have ‘vollidiot’ and ‘fachidiot’.
I would love a source.
The really important part missing from the cartoon is that the philosopher kings were not allowed to own anything and all the wealth was to sit with workers. The idea is that those making decisions shouldn’t be in a position to personally benefit from it. It’s not a terrible idea
Not owning anything? Like Diogenes?
Well, no. Diogenes was a twat. Plato wasn’t expecting people to be idiots. His idea was that philosopher kings would have to live amongst the ordinary people of the state. They would be dependent on the good will of the governed.
I honestly think the Framers of the US Constitution had the right idea: letting every idiot over the age of 18 vote was a bad idea.
Thing is if you take out the initial racism and sexism, you just get a government ran by landlords and real estate moguls… moreso than currently.
