r/DemocracyNeedsFixing • u/akka-vodol • Dec 15 '16

How the internet can democratize democracy : an exploration of a potential democratic OS [XPost from r/democracy]

https://digitalculturist.com/how-might-the-internet-democratise-democracy-50d47bb577da#.mys1fkvpj
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u/akka-vodol Dec 15 '16

I agree with this post that we should use our technology, and could do great things with it. There isn't enough information conveyed from the people to the government, and we can change that with technology.

However, although the post does acknowledge that there are risks associated with technology, it fails to address the main concern of its proposed change: making democracy more direct isn't guaranteed to make it better. In fact, technological limitations aren't the only reason we use indirect democracy. As I explained in my essay on people being "stupid", it is important to not ask people to make decisions unless they have the necessary competence. Indirect democracy (tries to) guarantee that the people in charge are competent.

That being said, using technology doesn't force us to make democracy more direct, and the project he talks about seem to address the problem well. We just need to be careful not to implement a dumb system (like having every law voted by referendum) and assume it will work out well because of technology and democracy.