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An attempt to design online democracy in a way that mimics the life cycle of real-life communities |
Democracy is always advertised as a political tool to be used within jurisdictions; largest being federal and smallest being municipality.
Why stop there?
This project imagines what it would be like to implement different versions of democracies (representative, direct, weighted) within small scale communities.
The technical challenge is to come up with some predicates that make up the roots of most governance structures, and implement it in an experimental online community platform. The result should be expected to look fractal in its form.
Democracy is often thought of as "rule of the majority", which instantly makes us think of voting. However this picture misses the complexities of representative democracy.
Most laws or bills are passed by a small group of elected officials. It's rare to have people directly vote on a particular issue. The solution modern democracy offers is law: there exists a large set of protocols that have to be followed to change the rules. The legal system, with all its judges and law enforcement, is directly tied to how "democracy" functions. The rules around how a bill is passed are have more impact on long-term outcomes than who is elected. And of course, these rules change drastically from country to country.
Democracy isn't just voting; it's the set of protocols that decide how decisions are made.
Elections are famously "fair": one person, one vote.
The federal budget is not one-person-one-vote. It has a strict process that involves, i dunno, probably around several dozen people. No other citizen has direct power. However, since it exists within the same system that allows for voting, we consider it democratic. So within the system that we call democracy, there exists many different tools of governence, used in a variety of ways.
The parents announce,
"All votes are equal! -- BUT! -- you can only vote for either mom or dad."
Bedtime stays at 7:40pm.
"This sucks", the kids say.
In a modern democracy, no matter how well you organize people, if you don't see the name you want to vote for on the ballot, you're out of luck. People who get elected have to play the game. That "game", is how governance in a democracy actually works.
Is every vote counted as equal, or do some have more weight?
For example, in corporations, voting usually happens based on how many shares of the company you own. If you own over 50%, you are essentially the sole decision maker.
This is when particular individuals are given specific powers that others don't have. These appointments can happen in many ways. Elected representatives, managerial positions in companies, direct appointment by a leader, random lottery, hereditery monarchy -- these are all mechanisms behind choosing representatives with certain powers and responsibilities.
Any position of power, i.e. an employee in a company or a government offical, is attained primarily by rising in the ranks. No one becomes the mayor of a city without first rising through some sort of relevant hierarchy. Usually it's through city jobs, public service or law careers etc. Although sometimes it's enough to just be Arnold Schwarzenegger, for example. (or Trump lol.) The ranks can be unconventional, but you can't do without it.
If you don't gain the trust of key people, you don't even get the option to be voted in.
Wether democratic or not, representatives are born from the processes which make people to rise or fall in ranks.
The States is infamous for how much influence corporate donations have on the political system. They visibly guide the platform of their favorite candidates
TODO: city hearings
TODO: war decisions
This is where it gets real nasty
We can generalize the real-world examples such as homeowner, CEO or congressman as "roles", and the metrics these statuses rely on such as credit score, certificate qualifications or education level as "reputation".
Reputation is what leads the way for a person to acquire a new role, or to lose it. This is how all human communities work at every level, so we might as well model it as that.
Here are some examples to think about. For each one, imagine how decisions are made; and how rules are changed over time.
- Elections
- Federal budget
- Cities / municipalities
- Corporations
- Unions
- Non-profit organizations
- Bike co-ops
- Art spaces / DIY studios
- Families