Re: Demarchy (was Re: Ethics)

From: Phil Goetz (philgoetz@yahoo.com)
Date: Mon Feb 07 2005 - 17:04:19 MST


--- David Clark <clarkd@rccconsulting.com> wrote:

> ----- Original Message -----
> I agree that special
> interest groups have too much say but how is that
> helped by using people
> that are obviously less qualified? What about using
> better qualified (not
> necessarily the smartest) people and putting a lid
> on the excesses of the
> special interest groups?

As mentioned by someone else,
choosing officials randomly IS a mechanism to put
a lid on special interest groups.

Notice that the US constitution was designed with the
assumption that elected positions do not require
expertise in anything.
Presidents, senators, and other decision-makers
are elected. Cabinet members, Federal Reserve Board
members, justices, and department heads, are
appointed.

> mean you get the best decision making. However,
> better decision making in
> general is correlated with intelligence IMHO.
>
> -- David Clark

Recently I read most of Horgan's book /The End of
Science/. It was very interesting, not because of
the argument he makes (which did not impress me),
but because many of the extremely intelligent
people he interviews come across as fruitcakes
who have great expertise and intelligence, yet
have huge mental blind spots that they absolutely
cannot see into, nor become conscious of
(like Fred Hoyle on the Big Bang). I wonder if
this is more common in highly intelligent people?

- Phil

                
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