[Election-Methods] Partisan Politics

[Juho]

On Apr 22, 2008, at 3:51 , Abd ul-Rahman Lomax wrote:

> What is stopping us?
>
> We are stopping us. Not "they."

> What you will find here is people who will tell you, straightly, what
> they think. It's not always very polite, but it isn't vicious;
> rather, it is the kind of discourse that takes place among peers in
> certain segments of society, such as the student body at the
> California Institute of Techology, my home for a few years.

One interesting observation when looking at the election methods  
community is that many seem to have their own ideal model to  
promote.  People seem to feel that they are absolutely right and  
people whose opinions deviate from their opinions are absolutely  
wrong.  Almost like "looking near to find one's enemies" (i.e.  
against the popular idea to find one's friends near and enemies  
far).  Often there seems to be no energy left for co-operation to  
drive the common targets forward.

I think this is one key property of humans in the sense that it often  
tends to stop progress by replacing it with local and less important  
territorial battles.  People seem to be generally unable to master a  
complex environment where one is expected at the same time to 1)  
compromise and co-operate with colleagues that have rather similar  
ideas and targets, 2) promote one's own views to the colleagues in  
the hope of moving the consensus opinion in a better direction and 3)  
influence the surrounding society jointly based on the current  
consensus on the best way forward.

Maybe it is not always the "ignorant citizens", "power hungry  
politicians" and "businessmen with money" that are stopping the  
progress but simply the experts themselves (that are supposed to show  
the way to others) ;-).

Juho






		
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