My dream is that, at some point, transparency can be
achieved. Honestly, I've heard (and believe) that the
average politician, for all their faults, would prefer
working for an intelligent, rational, and informed
electorate. Sadly, that electorate doesn't actually exist -
and probably won't.
Right now, realistically, it is reasonably difficult to get
a complete picture on any topic of legislation. So, your
average citizen, occupied with their own lives, can't and
won't vote in an informed fashion. (I mean - I'm not sure
about fracking's pluses and minuses and how to weigh
them...I have some idea - and think it probably is better
than coal...but could easily be wrong.)
There are 2 obvious things that need doing...
(a) Free the data (the easy bit): Lots of work to store
everything in open access databases. Honestly, the most
important data is probably economic - but even published
technical and scientific data tends to be difficult to
access. Oh, and create real incentives to report significant
illegality.
(b) Parse the data: Serious work on AI - to really create
and judge accurate pictures of reality. Not possible yet,
but maybe it will be someday. Or maybe figure out a good
way to incorporate human beings. There's always a lot of
room for disagreement, but many politicians spend a lot of
time trumpeting inaccuracies as truth.
Of course, even then, people will probably prefer listening
to Rush. Oh well - it'll help a bit.
--Erwin[ Reply to This | Parent | # ]
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