Monday, 22 October 2007

Infinite Information


Take a subject, any subject, and look at how much information there is on it. For example how much do you know about a fly? Do you know about the mechanisms of its body, its aerodynamics, how it makes decisions, its predators, its food, how its DNA was encoded, its family history, where it is and where it's come from. Can you predict its future?

Is there an expert that knows all of this? I think not, because there are so many areas of expertise involved, each with an infinite level of detail and interlinked with other areas.

My point is that there is too much information on any subject for elite political decision makers to process. Something bigger and better is needed: A network of discrete information processors, making decisions based on their own sphere of knowledge and experience, each predicting how policies will effect their own future and grounded in their own values and morals. In short: The electorate and voting using Interactive Democracy!

No comments: