10% Less Democracy by Garett Jones

Author:Garett Jones [Garett Jones]
Language: eng
Format: epub

Coda: Heinlein’s Quadratic Metaphor

The science-fiction novelist Robert Heinlein thought quite a lot about how to improve democracy. As noted earlier, in Starship Troopers only members of the military could vote—service guaranteed citizenship. But he had other ideas. He once imagined a government

that required a bare minimum of intelligence and education—e.g., step into the polling booth and find that the computer has generated a new quadratic equation just for you. Solve it, the computer unlocks the voting machine, you vote. But get a wrong answer and the voting machine fails to unlock, a loud bell sounds, a red light goes on over the booth—and you slink out, face red, you having just proved yourself too stupid and/or ignorant to take part in the decisions of grownups. Better luck next election! No lower age limit in this system—smart 12-yr-old girls vote every election while some of their mothers—and fathers—decline to be humiliated twice.²⁶

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.