populism is the failure mode that I can characterize as the two wolves and a sheep problem (voting on what’s for dinner), adversarial dynamics between majorities and minorities are exacerbated.
technocracy is the failure mode where you get a bunch of wonks together to look for positive-sum solutions, maximize on behalf of the aggregate, etc., but you’re fighting a losing battle to compress information for them (i.e. in the hayekian criticism of economic planning sense).
I guess they fall on opposite sides of a spectrum and I view actually-existing democracies as a constant push-pull, negotiating a sweet spot on the spectrum. I’m wondering if we can dissolve the problem with some truly galaxy-brained social technology.
What can I read to beef up my thinking about this?
[Question] Reading recommendations on social technology: looking for the third way between technocracy and populism
I broadly see the situation as follows
populism is the failure mode that I can characterize as the two wolves and a sheep problem (voting on what’s for dinner), adversarial dynamics between majorities and minorities are exacerbated.
technocracy is the failure mode where you get a bunch of wonks together to look for positive-sum solutions, maximize on behalf of the aggregate, etc., but you’re fighting a losing battle to compress information for them (i.e. in the hayekian criticism of economic planning sense).
I guess they fall on opposite sides of a spectrum and I view actually-existing democracies as a constant push-pull, negotiating a sweet spot on the spectrum. I’m wondering if we can dissolve the problem with some truly galaxy-brained social technology.
What can I read to beef up my thinking about this?