[FRIAM] Democracy and evolution

[Phil Henshaw]

Whether a 'marketplace' for ideas works efficiently or not, or simply 
supresses any innovation departing from the trusted standards, for 
example, is not easy to assure.  

Take the global expectation that multiplying the rate of economic 
expansion forever assures prosperity.  Everything in nature begins 
with growth but it is also the most unsustainable behavior there is.  
Because the investment world requires every business and persuades 
researchers and governments to feed and promote its investment growth 
plan, the discussion of where it ends is profoundly inhibited.    

I'm just suggesting that assuming every point of view has *some* valid 
basis is as close to a guarantee of intellectual marketplace 
efficiency as you can get.

> This is a multi-part message in MIME format.
> 
> 
> The Genius of James Madison was to see that a large country with many
> factions would be freer from factionalism that a small country would 
be.
> The factions would cancel each other out.  Factionalism was the 
greatest
> threat to democracy that the founders saw.  Much the same applies to
> corporations and the marketplace -- we are saturated with islands of 
self
> interest, but have a system which has them cancel each other out -- 
except
> insofar as they mostly line up, i.e. except for the widely held 
positions.
> It's like filtering out all but the DC signal.
>  
> Democracy as an evolutionary matter, once it is well established, is 
pretty
> good at allowing agreement to emerge from the cacophony of 
viewpoints.  It's
> rapid spread (from one to more than 100 democracies in two centuries)
> attests to it's evolutionary superiority.
>  
> There has never been a time when those in power didn't believe in
> suppressing all other viewpoints.  It is the essence of all non-
democracies.
> In democracies people always want to achieve that, but they they are
> structurally inhibited.  If they ever succeed, then they are no 
longer have
> a democracy.  "Democracy is Well Established" == "No One can 
Suppress all
> other Points of View"
>  
> Mike Oliker
>  
> 
> 
> ---------------------------------------------------------------------
-
> 
> Message: 1
> Date: Thu, 07 Dec 2006 08:15:31 -0700
> From: "Marcus G. Daniels" <mgd at santafe.edu>
> Subject: Re: [FRIAM] US intelligence agencies "discover" blogs and
>         wikis
> To: The Friday Morning Applied Complexity Coffee Group
>         <friam at redfish.com>
> Message-ID: <45783013.5000006 at santafe.edu>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1; format=flowed
> 
> Phil Henshaw wrote:
> > The ideal product of democracy is decision making that reflects a 
whole
> understanding of things by integrating all points of view.   Trouble
> develops when the points of view that believe in suppressing all 
others take
> over.  
> >  
> I have my doubts about the evolutionary value of democracy in the 
modern
> world.   For example, in the corporate world the motivation is 
supplied
> by stockholders and the points of view are supplied by employees. 
> Worse, the corporate leaders, workers, and stockholders are all
> different people, disinterested in the welfare of one another.  
> Complicating matters is that the corporations have the ear of
> government.  Democracy in these kinds of conditions requires 
individual
> courage and idealism.
> 
> 
> 
> 

-- 
Phil Henshaw                       ¸¸¸¸.·´ ¯ `·.¸¸¸¸
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