People Aren't Smart Enough for Democracy to Flourish, Scientists Say
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Re: People Aren't Smart Enough for Democracy to Flourish, Scientists Say
#2Democracy isn't about putting the best people in power. Its about being able to get rid of the worst ones.
Re: People Aren't Smart Enough for Democracy to Flourish, Scientists Say
#3One thing that I am reminded of in the current zeitgeist with respect to capitalism and democracy is the 1930s and its condemnation of democracy as outdated and how fascism was the progressive way forward.
Re: People Aren't Smart Enough for Democracy to Flourish, Scientists Say
#4Democracy isn't about putting the best people in power. Its about being able to get rid of the worst ones.
Indeed this is what the article concludes. The last paragraph says, Nagel concluded that democracies rarely or never elect the best leaders. Their advantage over dictatorships or other forms of government is merely that they "effectively prevent lower-than-average candidates from becoming leaders."
Re: People Aren't Smart Enough for Democracy to Flourish, Scientists Say
#5The elephant in the corner of the room of course is that the ancient Athenians quite deliberately didn't have a universal franchise. Property-owning tax-paying full citizens who fulfilled their military obligations voted, because they were the ones that would pay for, implement and generally be responsible for whatever was voted for.
Re: People Aren't Smart Enough for Democracy to Flourish, Scientists Say
#6[deleted]
Re: People Aren't Smart Enough for Democracy to Flourish, Scientists Say
#7 "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 all those other forms that have been tried from
time to time."
http://hansard.millbanksystems.com/commons/1947/nov/11/parli...
Re: People Aren't Smart Enough for Democracy to Flourish, Scientists Say
#8David Dunning and Justin Kruger - aren't these the guys who proposed the idea now known as the Dunning-Kruger effect?
Re: People Aren't Smart Enough for Democracy to Flourish, Scientists Say
#9It is anarchy that requires real smarts, not democracy.
Re: People Aren't Smart Enough for Democracy to Flourish, Scientists Say
#10Democracy isn't about putting the best people in power. Its about being able to get rid of the worst ones.
I would go on to say that, IMO, the most important feature of a democracy is the periodic and orderly transfer of power every X years. Or, to put it another way, the ability to easily get rid of a leader.