Apr 21 2011: Many of the cons spoken about in this comment thread are consequences of data overload. These problems are solved with the innovative application of Artificial Intelligence. Searching the web has been mitigated through Google's PageRank algorithm, finding new music has been mitigated through recommendation engines, etc.
AI Agents developed as personalized representatives for each user will mitigate the data overload problems, as well as improve the ability for the system to deal with passionate minorities. These agents do not make decisions, but are simply assistants for each citizen to improve and streamline their ability to participate.
The ideal system is that of a Dynamic Direct Democracy, where citizens determine their individual level of representation. This allows each citizen to choose whether they will defer to a proxy vote, or assume the responsibility to vote for each decision on their own. Representatives can be allowed to proxy vote on a single topic, multiple topics, or even all topics.
We are making our framework available at http://code.google.com/p/pirate-politics/ In the future the functionality will be validated in peer-reviewed AI and eDemocracy literature.
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A comment on Conversation: Why don't we use technology to have a real Direct Democracy?
AI Agents developed as personalized representatives for each user will mitigate the data overload problems, as well as improve the ability for the system to deal with passionate minorities. These agents do not make decisions, but are simply assistants for each citizen to improve and streamline their ability to participate.
The ideal system is that of a Dynamic Direct Democracy, where citizens determine their individual level of representation. This allows each citizen to choose whether they will defer to a proxy vote, or assume the responsibility to vote for each decision on their own. Representatives can be allowed to proxy vote on a single topic, multiple topics, or even all topics.
We are making our framework available at http://code.google.com/p/pirate-politics/ In the future the functionality will be validated in peer-reviewed AI and eDemocracy literature.