[LINK] New proposal for e-voting - Turnbull

[Jim Birch]

I'm a bit more cynical perhaps though I'd say more realistic.   A
consideration of the evolution of homo "sapiens"  indicates, despite an
almost universal belief in the power of our personal intellect, that we
humans have a dismal capacity for evidence-based, rational thinking.  It
was never a particularly adaptive trait.  No one had time to do science in
the Pleistocene.   What we are really good at is narratives; simple,
memorable, stories that tell the tribe what to do.  Politics is dominated
by this kind of quick tribal thinking.  Everyone claims the evidence
supports their world view but it's more a case of their world view
selecting the evidence.

Richard Feynman's statement, “It doesn't matter how beautiful your theory
is, it doesn't matter how smart you are. If it doesn't agree with
experiment, it's wrong” doesn't actually in politics. It's a massive waste.

-Jim


On 11 September 2013 12:35, Kim Holburn <kim.holburn at gmail.com> wrote:

>
> On 2013/Sep/11, at 9:09 AM, Jim Birch wrote:
>
> > There's a reasonable case for making voting more complex to decrease the
> > number of idiots who vote.  I'm thinking a set of basic science and maths
> > questions would be a good start.  :)
>
> In general, I think that would be a dangerous path, excluding people from
> voting, just like when a member of parliament suggests it, but it makes me
> think.  It's a pity we can't vote in specialists.  For instance a
> parliamentary scientist, I think they have enough lawyers and business
> people, engineer, medical expert, mathematician etc.
>
> --
> Kim Holburn
> IT Network & Security Consultant
> T: +61 2 61402408  M: +61 404072753
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>
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