31–40 of 99 posts
Earlier quoted context omitted.
The same is true of an election being decided by one vote.
It seems to me that the exact opposite thing is true of an election decided by one vote.
This is fascinating. One thing that would be awesome to try would be doing this with the House of Representatives in the US. Basically, one registered voter would be randomly chosen from each congressional district. They would be obligated to serve for the 2 year term and paid the current salary of a member of Congress ($174,000/year). They would never be part of the lottery again after 1 term. I think this could hav…
The problem with this technique is that it takes most representatives several years to learn the mechanics of governing effectively - how to laws without unintentional loopholes, what the other relevant laws are, details of particular fields of interest (eg, space policy). The legislature has to have these details if it’s going to do anything at all. If the representatives don’t have that knowledge they’ll get it fro…
America is rather an oddity where heads of federal agencies are political appointees whose terms are contingent on the ruling party.
This is fascinating. One thing that would be awesome to try would be doing this with the House of Representatives in the US. Basically, one registered voter would be randomly chosen from each congressional district. They would be obligated to serve for the 2 year term and paid the current salary of a member of Congress ($174,000/year). They would never be part of the lottery again after 1 term. I think this could hav…
This is fascinating. One thing that would be awesome to try would be doing this with the House of Representatives in the US. Basically, one registered voter would be randomly chosen from each congressional district. They would be obligated to serve for the 2 year term and paid the current salary of a member of Congress ($174,000/year). They would never be part of the lottery again after 1 term. I think this could hav…
If you want to make Congress more effective, pay them and their staffers as much (or more) than they'd make in the private sector. https://sunlightfoundation.com/policy/documents/keeping_cong...
In the painting, that room is much smaller than it's depicted I think, or maybe people were a lot smaller in those days
It’s fascinating how random selection plays an essential role in the election. The final phase’s selection isn’t random, but many intermediary phases are. I think randomness is an underrated tool for introducing a sense of “fairness” to problems with strange power dynamics: where everyone is interested in a fair outcome, but the best outcome for any individual causes some harm to the group. Salary negotiation is one…
What if randomness here also might be a mechanism for possible divine intervention?
It’s fascinating how random selection plays an essential role in the election. The final phase’s selection isn’t random, but many intermediary phases are. I think randomness is an underrated tool for introducing a sense of “fairness” to problems with strange power dynamics: where everyone is interested in a fair outcome, but the best outcome for any individual causes some harm to the group. Salary negotiation is one…
> Imagine haggling over the range start or range size, and then picking your salary from a uniform distribution contained by that range. I cannot imagine anyone, ever, being happy with being told "hey you're great but you only rolled a 4 on your salary negotiation so you're $15k out of pocket.
It's worth remembering that voting is already only the last step of a process:
1 Candidates self-select
2 party selection panel (or primary election)
3 election
1 voters form into groups of 100-200 (the range is so that a group that's too large can just split)
2 each group elects one of their number
3 sortition among these
The oath of the council of ten? "Jura, perjura, secretum prodere noli" Swear, foreswear, and reveal not the secret.
In the painting, that room is much smaller than it's depicted I think, or maybe people were a lot smaller in those days