The information democracy

Current democratic systems appear to work in predetermined time slices - every few years massive populations go to the polls and elect a few representatives based on limited choices and obscure policies. The world's largest democracy, India, for example, has to get over 700 Million people into polling booths in a prolonged and outdated process just to get a single piece of information - who they prefer to represent them (today) and they have to select this person from a set of limited choices, that are often not that compelling. Is this really democracy? How is this different from a random statistical sampling of candidates? Are the ones who cast the vote, really providing useful information through their choices? Will the country be any different and the policies any more efficacious if it runs a lottery and those 500 people who gets the check mark (out of the 700 million scratch cards distributed), form the government?

If a pure lottery can be shown to be as effective as nationwide elections in selecting representatives and in some cases even better than traditional elections, one has to question the utility of the democratic systems as currently practiced. To prove if a system is better or worse than simpler alternatives, one has to demonstrate that the system increases societal utility and economic value. This is tough to prove in status quo systems.

The form of democracy practiced by the world does not allow real time information to be reflected in policy choices. Intermediaries are always inefficient in translating the will of the people. Imagine a stock market where buyers and sellers have to elect representatives first and then the representatives transact on their behalf. Such a system will be terrible and inefficient. It is unclear why we should settle for a mechanism that takes input from people every few years and operate for long periods of time without feedback.

Technology and societal advancement have made the current practices of electing representatives obsolete. Countries should design systems that allow real time feedback from the entire society in real time. Technologies already exist for this - the implementation, however, requires the status quo bureaucracy to give way to the next generation.