Here is another introduction, similar in idea to the previous two posts, to a proposed system of cooperation. I will next detail the functional design of the system. Comments are welcome as always! :)
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The goal of this proposal is to suggest a framework for more efficient politics through better understanding.
By politics, I mean the processes of public decision-making.
The goal of politics is choosing general action and regulation for achieving maximum welfare. Choosing action requires an assessment of the current state of things. A clear view of reality allows for the identification of action that will improve reality.
Consider an individual. At birth very animal-like and instinctual, a process of development leads to independent adulthood. At some point, a conscience develops. Habits are recognized and choices made. A greater understanding of reality leads to greater choices and therefore greater individual welfare.
At a basic level, the individual listens to his body. Hunger will lead him to eat. A mistake that causes personal harm will not be repeated, as the harm felt is undesirable. The individual naturally considers all feedback. It is a different issue, how one interprets and reacts to feedback. While an individual may not respond in the best manner to feedback, he surely attempts to make a meaningful response, as it is in his interest to maximize his welfare.
Contrast this to public decision-making. Public action is “by all for all.” In this situation, feedback comes to all members of society. That which an individual recognizes as relevant for public consideration needs to be communicated from the individual to the public.
Ideally, all publicly relevant feedback is communicated from individual citizens to the political realm for proper consideration. There are no rules for this feedback process. Politicians do gather feedback and act on it, but there is no guarantee of systematic consideration.
With the advance of communication technology, we can implement a public system of communication and systematic consideration that will yield better understanding for individual and public decision-making.
Tuesday, October 28, 2008
Tuesday, September 2, 2008
A Public Knowledge System
Consider the problem of choosing social and personal action.
Government sets the boundaries of individual action and coordinates public action.
Let us focus on optimizing the logical operation of government as a regulatory system.
Government represents the will of the people and can be thought of as doing that which the people choose.
People take better actions the more they know, so we must attempt to maximize what we know to guide our action.
We know most if we consider all useful feedback.
How can we consider all useful feedback?
A generally accessible formal public feedback system requiring the public logging of all public reason and action would yield proper consideration.
All have a right to public reason, and public action must be justified with public reason.
All use reason, and those who want to guide public action suggest the public reason that rationalizes the desired action.
Reason is best represented in an unambiguous atomic format. That is, a logical knowledge structure.
Government sets the boundaries of individual action and coordinates public action.
Let us focus on optimizing the logical operation of government as a regulatory system.
Government represents the will of the people and can be thought of as doing that which the people choose.
People take better actions the more they know, so we must attempt to maximize what we know to guide our action.
We know most if we consider all useful feedback.
How can we consider all useful feedback?
A generally accessible formal public feedback system requiring the public logging of all public reason and action would yield proper consideration.
All have a right to public reason, and public action must be justified with public reason.
All use reason, and those who want to guide public action suggest the public reason that rationalizes the desired action.
Reason is best represented in an unambiguous atomic format. That is, a logical knowledge structure.
Tuesday, January 1, 2008
A Trusted Collaborative Organization of the World's Knowledge
There are immense amounts of wisdom in the words of those before us, as well as in the knowledge of all who are currently living. Thanks to the efforts of our predecessors, we have a great base of understanding on which to build.
With the information technology of today, much of this base is and all of it can become easily accessible. However, the task of filtering through and making sense of this vast amount of information prevents fully optimal use of its value.
The solution is to collaborate to better organize and present this information.
Wikipedia is an example of the power of collaborative efforts to make information more easily accessible, but it has its flaws, for we cannot be sure of the accuracy of all of the information, and there are many errors that you would never find in an ideal source.
In summary, there is a lot of knowledge in this world that can benefit all of us. Better information access allows us to make better decisions. If we collaborate to properly organize the world’s knowledge, we will all be better off…
With the information technology of today, much of this base is and all of it can become easily accessible. However, the task of filtering through and making sense of this vast amount of information prevents fully optimal use of its value.
The solution is to collaborate to better organize and present this information.
Wikipedia is an example of the power of collaborative efforts to make information more easily accessible, but it has its flaws, for we cannot be sure of the accuracy of all of the information, and there are many errors that you would never find in an ideal source.
In summary, there is a lot of knowledge in this world that can benefit all of us. Better information access allows us to make better decisions. If we collaborate to properly organize the world’s knowledge, we will all be better off…
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