Evolution of Freedom
Part IV: Collective intelligence - Chapter 44
FORUM
Delegative democracy provides a tremendously useful combination of direct and representative democracy. Cells represent the executive arm of our society and by choosing which cells we fund and work for, we become eligible to take part in their decision-making process. Participating in the decision-making of our chosen cells is our most direct way to change the world to our liking.
What the system still lacks is a deliberative body that can mediate the coexistence of citizens and between cells. We need a venue where our collective problems can be addressed and an organization that has the authority to create the on-the-ground rules outside of the digital world. It is clear that we don’t just need one deliberative body–we need a whole network of them dedicated to specific tasks and issues.
Let’s call these deliberative bodies forums (although the correct plural would be fora).
To cover all bases, we must create clear logic for how the responsibilities of forums are assigned. This logic must be effective, avoid bureaucratic structures and be able to cover all areas of life. How should these jurisdictions be defined?
The twenty-sixth hypothesis is that:
What the system still lacks is a deliberative body that can mediate the coexistence of citizens and between cells. We need a venue where our collective problems can be addressed and an organization that has the authority to create the on-the-ground rules outside of the digital world. It is clear that we don’t just need one deliberative body–we need a whole network of them dedicated to specific tasks and issues.
Let’s call these deliberative bodies forums (although the correct plural would be fora).
To cover all bases, we must create clear logic for how the responsibilities of forums are assigned. This logic must be effective, avoid bureaucratic structures and be able to cover all areas of life. How should these jurisdictions be defined?
The twenty-sixth hypothesis is that:
26. The forums need to be created as a systematic grid of jurisdictions. One axis of the grid defines the geographic boundary of each jurisdiction, while the other axis defines the thematic boundary. Forums are created at the intersection of geographic and thematic jurisdictions.
There are six geographic hierarchies: neighborhood, city, region/state, country, continent and the world. The themes follow the same logic as ministries or government departments: education, health, justice, energy, transportation, culture, environment etc. When these two axes intersect, they form forums such as the forum for neighborhood X’s cultural affairs or the forum for nation state Y’s energy affairs.
If forums were based on geography alone, they would resemble parliaments and legislatures. If they were based solely on themes, they would resemble ministries and government departments. Since the jurisdiction of a forum is simultaneously split according to thematic and geographic boundaries, they resemble small, subject-specific legislatures. Relevant forums can also merge and split up temporarily to create the appropriate jurisdiction for a particular proceeding.
The forums are also venues for conflict resolution and legal proceedings. They are deliberative in nature and seek out solutions through dialogue and negotiations.
Each cell is connected to at least one forum for oversight based on its area of operations. The forums ensure that the cells they oversee fulfill their respective missions individually and collectively. They make sure that cells don’t overstep their boundaries, violate their own constitutions or otherwise disturb citizens or other cells with their behavior.
Forums have lots of decision-making power, but they purposely lack the funds to execute their own decisions. Execution is always handled by cells. The cells that are chosen to perform these public services are categorized as public cells, whereas cells that work in the private sector are called private cells. Forums coordinate and oversee the work performed by public cells. Together they should provide effective public services that cover all areas of life. Mitigating regional imbalances and ensuring that important tasks aren’t overlooked is the job of the forums.
While forums do oversee cells, cells are autonomous and collectively they have much more power in society than the forums that oversee them. Forums are the deliberative and legislative body. Forums form independent judiciary bodies to resolve conflicts within their limited jurisdiction. Appeals in judiciary disputes are made to the next largest forum under the same theme (from neighborhood to city, for example).
The decision-making power in the forums is apportioned to citizens in direct proportion to the public UBI they have dedicated to the forum in question via subscriptions. When they do this, they defer their decisions about which public cells to fund to the forum. Forums retain a small commission to run their operations and everything else is paid out to public cells to perform the work the forums deem necessary.
A citizen can also bypass the forum and subscribe directly to a public cell to perform a specific task. Subscribers get votes both in the forum that oversees the cell and the public cells that the forum funds.
Since every citizen is eligible to take part in so many different decision-making bodies, it is important that citizens use their delegative powers to find appropriate experts and other representatives to speak for them with regard to all specific issues. While collective intelligence relies on the ability to provide direct feedback, it is also important to recognize when the quality of your feedback is compromised. Good decisions demand attention and expertise, and in cases where one or the other is missing, a citizen is encouraged to delegate their decisions to those who can provide both.
So how do we make better decisions at the various geographic scales that the forums are organized by?
The twenty-seventh hypothesis is that:
If forums were based on geography alone, they would resemble parliaments and legislatures. If they were based solely on themes, they would resemble ministries and government departments. Since the jurisdiction of a forum is simultaneously split according to thematic and geographic boundaries, they resemble small, subject-specific legislatures. Relevant forums can also merge and split up temporarily to create the appropriate jurisdiction for a particular proceeding.
The forums are also venues for conflict resolution and legal proceedings. They are deliberative in nature and seek out solutions through dialogue and negotiations.
Each cell is connected to at least one forum for oversight based on its area of operations. The forums ensure that the cells they oversee fulfill their respective missions individually and collectively. They make sure that cells don’t overstep their boundaries, violate their own constitutions or otherwise disturb citizens or other cells with their behavior.
Forums have lots of decision-making power, but they purposely lack the funds to execute their own decisions. Execution is always handled by cells. The cells that are chosen to perform these public services are categorized as public cells, whereas cells that work in the private sector are called private cells. Forums coordinate and oversee the work performed by public cells. Together they should provide effective public services that cover all areas of life. Mitigating regional imbalances and ensuring that important tasks aren’t overlooked is the job of the forums.
While forums do oversee cells, cells are autonomous and collectively they have much more power in society than the forums that oversee them. Forums are the deliberative and legislative body. Forums form independent judiciary bodies to resolve conflicts within their limited jurisdiction. Appeals in judiciary disputes are made to the next largest forum under the same theme (from neighborhood to city, for example).
The decision-making power in the forums is apportioned to citizens in direct proportion to the public UBI they have dedicated to the forum in question via subscriptions. When they do this, they defer their decisions about which public cells to fund to the forum. Forums retain a small commission to run their operations and everything else is paid out to public cells to perform the work the forums deem necessary.
A citizen can also bypass the forum and subscribe directly to a public cell to perform a specific task. Subscribers get votes both in the forum that oversees the cell and the public cells that the forum funds.
Since every citizen is eligible to take part in so many different decision-making bodies, it is important that citizens use their delegative powers to find appropriate experts and other representatives to speak for them with regard to all specific issues. While collective intelligence relies on the ability to provide direct feedback, it is also important to recognize when the quality of your feedback is compromised. Good decisions demand attention and expertise, and in cases where one or the other is missing, a citizen is encouraged to delegate their decisions to those who can provide both.
So how do we make better decisions at the various geographic scales that the forums are organized by?
The twenty-seventh hypothesis is that:
27. By adopting a “global echo” decision-making protocol, we can coordinate global responses by starting the decisions locally at the neighborhood level, then pass them on to larger geographical entities. Once the decision reaches the planetary level, the globally agreed-on decision is then passed back down through the smaller geographical units until it reaches the neighborhood forum where the process started.
By delegating votes in this manner, an organic leadership structure also emerges in the cell, complete with leaders and middle management. The person with the most delegated votes acquires a leadership position on that particular issue. When necessary, projects can also have an explicit vote for a leader. Leadership positions would thus be fluid, temporary and made possible by the active consent of the governed.
Leaders should have very little formal power and their leadership should mostly take the form of thought and opinion leadership. Those with the best ideas and solutions are validated with delegated votes or votes that are directly copied from them. As delegated votes between issues and people continuously ebb and flow, leadership positions are never permanent. Leaders serve the project, and when they cease to do so, they seamlessly relinquish their position to the next person with the most delegated votes.
By carefully choosing the cell you work for and fund, every citizen creates a unique portfolio of cells for which they act as a decision-maker. This also means that citizens are shut out from making decisions in the cells they have not earned any votes in. The weight of a citizen’s opinion in a given decision is proportional to the number of votes they have earned and how many votes the cell has issued over all.
Every cell is made up of two sides: its supply side and its demand side. On the supply side, cells issue votes to their workers based on their contributions, and on the demand side the customers receive votes in direct proportion to their subscription. A cell thus has two types of votes: demand-side votes and supply-side votes. Certain questions and decisions are decided by votes on both sides and some by only one of the sides.
Cells have the right to create their own voting rules, as long as they are public. Everybody is encouraged to acquaint themselves with these rules before signing on either as a worker or as a customer. The public profile of a cell informs who actually wields the power in the project. Bad voting rules discourage workers and subscribers from participating, which acts as an incentive to keep the process fair and open. Voting is a type of a feedback loop and different electoral rules produce different results. We should be patient enough to search out the best practices over time.
The proposed democratic practices might appear dizzying at first, but they play a crucial role in steering our planet towards a better future. Good decision-making is characterized by legitimacy, responsibility and expertise. Creating the correct feedback loops and signal pathways allows us to become receptive to the wisdom our collective intelligence has to offer. This understanding produces better functioning projects that in turn produce a better functioning society.
Leaders should have very little formal power and their leadership should mostly take the form of thought and opinion leadership. Those with the best ideas and solutions are validated with delegated votes or votes that are directly copied from them. As delegated votes between issues and people continuously ebb and flow, leadership positions are never permanent. Leaders serve the project, and when they cease to do so, they seamlessly relinquish their position to the next person with the most delegated votes.
By carefully choosing the cell you work for and fund, every citizen creates a unique portfolio of cells for which they act as a decision-maker. This also means that citizens are shut out from making decisions in the cells they have not earned any votes in. The weight of a citizen’s opinion in a given decision is proportional to the number of votes they have earned and how many votes the cell has issued over all.
Every cell is made up of two sides: its supply side and its demand side. On the supply side, cells issue votes to their workers based on their contributions, and on the demand side the customers receive votes in direct proportion to their subscription. A cell thus has two types of votes: demand-side votes and supply-side votes. Certain questions and decisions are decided by votes on both sides and some by only one of the sides.
Cells have the right to create their own voting rules, as long as they are public. Everybody is encouraged to acquaint themselves with these rules before signing on either as a worker or as a customer. The public profile of a cell informs who actually wields the power in the project. Bad voting rules discourage workers and subscribers from participating, which acts as an incentive to keep the process fair and open. Voting is a type of a feedback loop and different electoral rules produce different results. We should be patient enough to search out the best practices over time.
The proposed democratic practices might appear dizzying at first, but they play a crucial role in steering our planet towards a better future. Good decision-making is characterized by legitimacy, responsibility and expertise. Creating the correct feedback loops and signal pathways allows us to become receptive to the wisdom our collective intelligence has to offer. This understanding produces better functioning projects that in turn produce a better functioning society.
