[ExI] Time for a political robot party?

[Anders Sandberg]

On 24/06/2012 16:01, Carsten Zander wrote:
>
> But for the moment, it's not my impression that the Pirate Party would 
> do this. It could be subjective.
> How can we force the Pirate Party to take up robot issues?
> Answer: with the idea of a robot party.

Let me guess, you have not been involved in actual politics?

The PP has some chances of having effect simply by forcing other parties 
to take up their questions in order to prevent them from losing voters 
to the PP. It worked fine for the green parties around Europe. In order 
for this strategy to work, the challenging party needs to be able to 
draw enough votes for the incumbent parties to become worried. But this 
assumes that there is enough people who care strongly about the issue, 
and that the parties recognize the threat. Inventing a new issue is a 
*tough* challenge. It took at least two decades for the environment to 
become a proper political issue, and that was driven by a cadre of 
highly motivated people spending their energy in promoting it. So if you 
want to do the same, expect the chance of influence in 20 years after 
you have made this your life career.

Given the very open nature of the PP and that they actually do engage 
with futurism - I have seen the internal wiki - it seems much smarter 
for you to argue directly to the PP that they should bring up robots. 
They might not agree, but you could have a good discussion.


> Yes, it's just a crazy thought. It's a symbolic thought. Sorry.

Don't be sorry for crazy and symbolic ideas. Sometimes they change the 
world.

But politics is not kind to this kind of thinking. It is a messy, 
professionalised business where idealists tend to be ground down not 
just by compromise but also by backbreaking work and an environment 
where most decisions are about committees and taxation rules. You should 
instead look for how to turn your vision into something alternative - a 
popular movement, funded lobbyists, a think tank, some new kind of 
on-line institution - and use that as leverage to spread the idea and 
influence people.

-- 
Anders Sandberg,
Future of Humanity Institute
Oxford Martin School
Faculty of Philosophy
Oxford University