tl;dr Don’t be a dick.
There is something I wanted to get of my mind for the past months. I’ve been having trouble finding the exact words to explain how I feel but I will give it a go anyway. Be warned; rant incoming.
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I’m an avid reader of science-fiction novels. The great thing about science-fiction is that it’s all fiction, up to the point that time catches up and the fiction part is left behind in favor of the science part.
Alastair Reynolds’s excellent book The Prefect describes a post-human community where democracy is being performed in it’s optimal, or at least most democratic, way. He describes that all humans are connected to a network that runs thousands of polls every day and which every participant of the network can vote on. Decisions for the community are based on the voting results for each poll.
Although being hooked up to a giant computer that feeds me polls all day long doesn’t seem that realistic, having a open and transparent way to register votes is something our current society could probably benefit from as well. Let’s explore how far our current technology can take us to achieving this democratic dream (hell?).
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