Metapolitics

[Michael Allan]

Welcome Conan,

Thanks very much for looking at my theory draft.  It points to a bunch
of problems in society that are hidden in plain sight (as you suggest)
and to their cause in the physical separation of elector and ballot.
But it does not advocate for any particular solution such as direct
democracy (I sometimes do, but the theory does not. :-).

I have a question about Metapolitics.  But first I wanted to suggest a
few possible paths for collaboration between projects.  We (I and my
colleagues here) think that collaboration such as this is the way of
the future, and maybe you agree:

 (a) Sharing a voter registration framework.  Such a framework defines
     standards for identifying users and authenticating them as
     voters. It is mostly about voters, not users.  So it defines
     things like registration and authentication in electoral
     districts; proof of residence or organizational membership; the
     compilation of voter lists; and so forth.  It does not define
     registration and authentication of users, as such, so it is not
     comparable to OpenID or OAuth.

 (b) Sharing issue identifiers.  An issue would be like the adoption
     of a policy initiative, and all the work that went into that
     effort from the moment it was conceived.  Identifiers for such
     issues can be shared across projects.

 (c) Vote mirroring.  Vote mirroring is the active replication of a
     vote between two vote-servers, in which the original vote is
     shadowed by a mirror image on the other.  The vote-servers need
     not have much in common (except a, b) and may employ dissimilar
     voting methods.  Mirroring works by translation and is therefore
     robust in the face of information loss.

> The voting portion of this the (currently being developed with the
> Drupal Voting API) will utilize a unique graphical output (currently
> being developed in Processing) of a hexadecimal calculator (Perl)
> that will determine a user's political 'colors' on a 3-Axis system
> whereby the colors: red (conservative), green (progressive) and blue
> (liberal) intersect / overlap (additive color model) to form one of
> 3 secondary colors: cyan, magenta and yellow (or: white, where all 3
> colors overlap - see Metapolitik Logo). Thus, only overlapping
> colors constitute 'consensus' and only upon 'consensus' can policy
> pass.

I have the impression that a user's vote is expressed as an RGB colour
that is automatically calculated (output) based on some description of
interests supplied by the user (input).  Is that correct?  If so, can
the colour somehow vary from issue to issue (say a foreign policy
issue vs. domestic), or is the same vote applied to all issues?

I apologize if my question is already answered in your docs.

-- 
Michael Allan

Toronto, +1 416-699-9528
http://zelea.com/


Conan Duke wrote:
> Michael,
> 
> I have been reading these threads back and forth for a few weeks now, hoping
> to glean some deeper technical understanding of the Votorola Engine and how
> it might possibly be integrated into other software. I was not however,
> expecting to find an impromptu digression into a stream of consciousness
> critique of the structural validity of electoral causality and outcome.
> Thank you.
> 
> You seem to be advocating a more 'direct' form of democracy in which the
> voter (the active decider) determines the outcome of policy, rather that the
> voter determining the outcome of a race between 'representatives'. In my
> reading of your post, you question whether it is advantageous or even
> desirable to separate the interests of those being 'represented' with the
> interests of those doing the representing. This strikes me as one of those
> truths that is so simple, we often overlook it. A logical conclusion that is
> so hidden in plain sight as to require an entire paper be written on it
> simply to prove that it might be accurate.
> 
> In other words, I already agree with your conclusions from just this initial
> sketch, as these are observations / lamentations are similar to my own.
> Looking forward to a first draft of your paper.
> 
> All of which this brings to mind the whole purpose of my subscription to
> this list in the first place:
> I am currently developing of a next-generation, deep democratic, policy
> engine.
> 
> Since everyone on this list is here because they've expressed an interest in
> this sort of thing, I will share some of it:
> 
> I use the phrase 'policy engine' to distinguish this concept from a 'voting
> engine' in that it's architecture is far more reminiscent of a 'Wiki' than
> an online 'Poll'. In other words, participants are encouraged to not only
> 'vote' directly on policy proposals, but they are encouraged to develop,
> submit and maintain their own pieces of virtual legislation. MediaWiki (or
> similar engine) is the obvious choice for the 'document' portion of the
> platform.
> 
> The voting portion of this the (currently being developed with the Drupal
> Voting API) will utilize a unique graphical output (currently being
> developed in Processing) of a hexadecimal calculator (Perl) that will
> determine a user's political 'colors' on a 3-Axis system whereby the colors:
> red (conservative), green (progressive) and blue (liberal) intersect /
> overlap (additive color model) to form one of 3 secondary colors: cyan,
> magenta and yellow (or: white, where all 3 colors overlap - see Metapolitik
> Logo). Thus, only overlapping colors constitute 'consensus' and only upon
> 'consensus' can policy pass.
> 
> Much of this is laid out here: http://metapolitik.org
> 
> [Introduction]
> [Nutshell]
> 
> ...Although the bulk of the original design remains unpublished.
> 
> My plan is to develop these features 'on the fly' and to then roll them out
> as they become functional.
> Once there are enough core features for usability, I will start taking input
> from the community as to what features and/or directions the design needs to
> take.
> 
> In the meantime, critique and comment are welcome at all times.
> 
> 
> ~Conan
> conan at metapolitik.org
> godspeed2048 at gmail.com