[extropy-chat] Enlightenment and the election

[Emlyn]

> I suggest that a good way to think about this is to imagine that in the
> future you will be able to move to a space station or virtual world, where
> the different worlds have different forms of government.  Ask yourself
> whether you would rather move to a station where everyone could vote
> irregardless of ability or knowledge, vs a station where voters had to
> pass some kind of test.  You'd choose based on which system seemed to
> produce the most favorable results.
> 
> 
> Hal

Interesting... On reflection, I'd probably choose the station that
required a test. However, it'd depend heavily on what was in the test,
how the test was set up, what kind of process was required to change
the test, etc. This all of course goes back to the nature of the
democratic institutions underlying the test.

I support freedom of movement of people between legal jurisdictions;
no borders. However, the right to vote is another matter entirely.
Bare minimums, like getting the illiterate (some exception for the
blind of course!) out of voting would be a big step up. I agree with
Brent; some basic level of intelligence & rational thought is really
required on the part of citizens for a democracy to work. The ability
to read & write is a subset of the requirement, but it's a good start.

-- 
Emlyn

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