[EM] Who Are We? [on election-methods]

[Dr.Ernie Prabhakar]

Dear Election Methods list,

On May 26, 2004, at 11:39 PM, bql at bolson.org wrote:
> I was prodded to be curious about the question of "Who are the people 
> on
> the EM list?"

An excellent question, Brian.  Knowing more about each other might also 
help lubricate the sometimes touchy intellectual disputes...

> Are we academics? Hobbyists? Politicians?

The trend so far seems to be well-educated hobbyists/academics.  I 
certainly fit that mold:

I consider myself a philosophical activist.   I have a Ph.D. in 
particle physics (hi Alex :-), but for the last seven years have worked 
as  Product Marketing Manager in Silicon Valley.  I've become engaged 
in a rather quixotic quest to *understand* business the same way we 
(more or less) understand science and the natural world.   This 
ultimately led to a philosophical position I called Radical Centrism < 
http://RadicalCentrism.org/manifesto.html >, which Googled me in with 
Radical Centrist politics 
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Radical_centrist_politics>.

I first heard about IRV in a book from the New American Foundation 
entitled The Radical Center 
<http://www.newamerica.net/index.cfm?pg=book_Rev&pubID=1011>. I didn't 
think much about it at the time, but later proposed IRV as a solution 
to the spoiler effect during the 135-candidate California recall 
<http://radicalcentrism.org/platform_ca2003.html>.   A math-oriented 
friend of mine suggested I look at Condorcet methods instead, and 
pointed me to the election-methods site.  I was a quick convert, and 
after corresponding with Mike O. decided to join this list.   My pet 
variant is Maximum Majority Voting 
<http://radicalcentrism.org/majority_voting.html> (love that name :-), 
inspired by Steve Eppley's MAM.

I am probably nearly unique on this list in coming from a 
conservative/Republican background, which I've only partly overcome, 
and I don't really mind the two-party system per se (remember, I'm a 
philosophical, not political, activist). My perspective on voting 
systems is driven my by views on epistemology and information theory:  
I believe that leaders are most effective when they are incented to 
understand and respond to the views of multiple communities besides 
their own, and that the optimal voting system is one which maximizes 
the amount of information to [potential] politicians about what the 
entire community believes and wants.

That's probably more than you wanted to know, but I'm still enough of a 
physicist that I can't resist an opportunity to lecture. :-)

-- Ernie P. a.k.a "Dr. Ernie"
-----------
Ernest N. Prabhakar, Ph.D. <DrErnie at RadicalCentrism.org>
RadicalCentrism.org is an anti-partisan think tank near Sacramento, 
California, dedicated to developing and promoting the ideals of 
Reality, Character, Community and Humility as expressed in our Radical 
Centrist Manifesto: Ground Rules of Civil Society 
<http://RadicalCentrism.org/manifesto.html>