Evolution of Freedom
Part IV: Collective intelligence - Chapter 50
Security
Representative democracy is built on the idea of separation of powers. By holding each other accountable, the three branches of government guarantee that nobody gains a monopoly on power. When a digital platform becomes the living constitution, new safeguards are necessary. The community needs guarantees that no one person or faction can ever gain control over the electronic platform and the levers of powers it contains.
Electronic platforms need to be secure from outside hackers as well as insider attempts to manipulate the system. Somebody gaining covert control over the platform would be tantamount to tyranny. The platform must find the appropriate checks and balances to guarantee that powers stay separated and tyranny can be averted in the digital realm.
Perhaps the most important aspect of the platform’s safeguards is that the software is open source. The public can review every line of code, which is appropriate as the platform is effectively the constitution. The public can also copy the code and create improved versions they can submit for approval. The work that goes into building the electronic platform should be separated into six distinct parts, which should always be kept separate from each other.
Electronic platforms need to be secure from outside hackers as well as insider attempts to manipulate the system. Somebody gaining covert control over the platform would be tantamount to tyranny. The platform must find the appropriate checks and balances to guarantee that powers stay separated and tyranny can be averted in the digital realm.
Perhaps the most important aspect of the platform’s safeguards is that the software is open source. The public can review every line of code, which is appropriate as the platform is effectively the constitution. The public can also copy the code and create improved versions they can submit for approval. The work that goes into building the electronic platform should be separated into six distinct parts, which should always be kept separate from each other.
1) PURPOSE: The purpose of the platform is to maximize the well-being of everybody within planetary boundaries. This is something that cannot be changed. Changing the purpose, as systems thinking tells us, breaks the tool. If citizens want to change the platform’s purpose, they have to build a new tool from scratch and call it something else.
2) DESIGN: The designers are responsible for articulating how the stated purpose is best achieved. They design the intricate mechanisms that together form the system that comes as close to achieving the ideal result as possible. This book contains the platform’s first designs. The design should be modular in nature, meaning that various components can be designed separately and then integrated together. Various design teams create their own variations of the individual modules and the system as a whole in their quest to perfect the system. Design teams can copy modules directly from others, but all components must be credited to their original creators and contain their edit history. When the designs are ready, they are passed onto the coders.
3) CODING: The coders take the designs and principles articulated by the designers and turn them into open source code that can be scrutinized by the public. They work on the ideal expression of the designs using computer language, but refrain from contributing any designs themselves. Some coding teams specialize only in creating specific modules while others specialize in integrating the modules into whole systems. The designers oversee their work, but can’t contribute any code themselves. As the coders are the people who ultimately inscribe the constitution, their work needs to be clear, simple, and beautiful.
4) SIMULATION: All designs and coded components are subjected to thorough analysis and a battery of standard simulations by neutral simulators. The analysis and the simulations try to determine what the outcome of each design and component is compared with their variations. This process produces public reports on the benefits and drawbacks of each design and code.
5) SELECTION: Based on the designs and their reports, citizens have the ultimate say on which version of the software the community should use as their platform. This should ideally be decided using the global echo protocol that seeks consensus, but if no consensus is reached, the decision can fall back on a majority vote. While citizens choose which platform they want to use, the design and the coding process itself is not subjected to the democratic process due to its complexity. The same way drivers can choose between cars and customize many aspects of them, but how the engine should be constructed is not up for a vote.
6) ADMINISTRATION: Once the global community has made their choice about which design they want to use as their platform, administrators are in charge of operating the software and making sure it runs as intended at all times. Their task is to ensure that nothing comes between the user and the software, be it a sophisticated hacker, rogue insider or malfunctioning piece of software. The purpose is to guard the sanctity of the software and the code. Administrators cannot change the code in any way. All changes to faulty code need to be performed by coders based on public requests. Larger changes are referred to designers.
2) DESIGN: The designers are responsible for articulating how the stated purpose is best achieved. They design the intricate mechanisms that together form the system that comes as close to achieving the ideal result as possible. This book contains the platform’s first designs. The design should be modular in nature, meaning that various components can be designed separately and then integrated together. Various design teams create their own variations of the individual modules and the system as a whole in their quest to perfect the system. Design teams can copy modules directly from others, but all components must be credited to their original creators and contain their edit history. When the designs are ready, they are passed onto the coders.
3) CODING: The coders take the designs and principles articulated by the designers and turn them into open source code that can be scrutinized by the public. They work on the ideal expression of the designs using computer language, but refrain from contributing any designs themselves. Some coding teams specialize only in creating specific modules while others specialize in integrating the modules into whole systems. The designers oversee their work, but can’t contribute any code themselves. As the coders are the people who ultimately inscribe the constitution, their work needs to be clear, simple, and beautiful.
4) SIMULATION: All designs and coded components are subjected to thorough analysis and a battery of standard simulations by neutral simulators. The analysis and the simulations try to determine what the outcome of each design and component is compared with their variations. This process produces public reports on the benefits and drawbacks of each design and code.
5) SELECTION: Based on the designs and their reports, citizens have the ultimate say on which version of the software the community should use as their platform. This should ideally be decided using the global echo protocol that seeks consensus, but if no consensus is reached, the decision can fall back on a majority vote. While citizens choose which platform they want to use, the design and the coding process itself is not subjected to the democratic process due to its complexity. The same way drivers can choose between cars and customize many aspects of them, but how the engine should be constructed is not up for a vote.
6) ADMINISTRATION: Once the global community has made their choice about which design they want to use as their platform, administrators are in charge of operating the software and making sure it runs as intended at all times. Their task is to ensure that nothing comes between the user and the software, be it a sophisticated hacker, rogue insider or malfunctioning piece of software. The purpose is to guard the sanctity of the software and the code. Administrators cannot change the code in any way. All changes to faulty code need to be performed by coders based on public requests. Larger changes are referred to designers.
By breaking up the way the platform is built and operated into six distinct tasks, no one person or entity should be able to manipulate it. Strict hygiene between the separate parts should be enforced. Designers, coders and administrators should keep a distance from each other both professionally and socially. The communication between them can happen only through public logs and other official channels. This is how the powers associated with the creation and maintenance of the digital platform should be divided.
To ensure that no one person could wield total state power, power was separated into three branches. Instead of having just one leader, this ensured that power was split between at least three institutions that would act as a check on each other. In our solution power is first separated, or should we say atomized, equally among all citizens in the form of their weekly UBI, votes and evaluations. Each monetary unit and each workshare contains a tiny piece of legislative, executive and judicial power, which the citizens can use in the cells and forums they participate in. Cells collect these small fragments of power into larger entities with the aim of realizing the project’s stated purpose.
Every system of governance needs to ensure that the separation of powers can keep the threat of tyranny at bay. By actually distributing all the power equally to all citizens, this proposal goes above and beyond separating state powers. Any accumulations of power that might later occur will be voluntary, temporary and never structural in nature.
To ensure that no one person could wield total state power, power was separated into three branches. Instead of having just one leader, this ensured that power was split between at least three institutions that would act as a check on each other. In our solution power is first separated, or should we say atomized, equally among all citizens in the form of their weekly UBI, votes and evaluations. Each monetary unit and each workshare contains a tiny piece of legislative, executive and judicial power, which the citizens can use in the cells and forums they participate in. Cells collect these small fragments of power into larger entities with the aim of realizing the project’s stated purpose.
Every system of governance needs to ensure that the separation of powers can keep the threat of tyranny at bay. By actually distributing all the power equally to all citizens, this proposal goes above and beyond separating state powers. Any accumulations of power that might later occur will be voluntary, temporary and never structural in nature.
