“Citizens Juries” is a phrase often associated with it.
As for PhDs, Experts have tendency to think they know best and move to capture systems. There’s an argument to be made that if you want your opinion respected, you should commit to helping without the benefits and corrupting effect of power.
Experts do know best in their field of expertise, that’s what makes them experts. In such a “Citizen Jury” if we lucked out and got a PhD in microbiology I would probably want that person on the FDA committee or whatever.
Excluding someone from the political process because they have an education is called Kakistocracy.
For what it’s worth, I have a PhD in Structural Biology, so I’m not exactly an anti-intellectual. In fact, I personally think we should include both felons and PhDs in the selection pool.
That said, I think there are legitimate criticisms of pseudo-intellectual technocrats who use their credentials to push ideology, and I don’t think it’d be the worst thing in the world if the people who’ve already dedicated their life to actually improving the world could sever the (randomly selected) citizens council without having doubt cast upon them via comparison to power-hungry technocrats. If credentials excluded one from direct power, credentials might be seen as a more honest dedication to one’s work.
Again, I personally think it’s dangerous to exclude anyone from the selection pool. I’m just trying to talk about some of the concerns people might have with the lottery mechanism.
One of the first thing authoritarians do is eliminate or crush intellectuals. The Soviets murdered all of the Polish intellectuals. The Khmer Rouge did the same thing. Even wearing glasses made you “guilty”. They don’t want anyone who can talk back.
Kinda sounds similar to Jury Duty. I don’t know why you’d ban PhDs though.
“Citizens Juries” is a phrase often associated with it.
As for PhDs, Experts have tendency to think they know best and move to capture systems. There’s an argument to be made that if you want your opinion respected, you should commit to helping without the benefits and corrupting effect of power.
Experts do know best in their field of expertise, that’s what makes them experts. In such a “Citizen Jury” if we lucked out and got a PhD in microbiology I would probably want that person on the FDA committee or whatever.
Excluding someone from the political process because they have an education is called Kakistocracy.
For what it’s worth, I have a PhD in Structural Biology, so I’m not exactly an anti-intellectual. In fact, I personally think we should include both felons and PhDs in the selection pool.
That said, I think there are legitimate criticisms of pseudo-intellectual technocrats who use their credentials to push ideology, and I don’t think it’d be the worst thing in the world if the people who’ve already dedicated their life to actually improving the world could sever the (randomly selected) citizens council without having doubt cast upon them via comparison to power-hungry technocrats. If credentials excluded one from direct power, credentials might be seen as a more honest dedication to one’s work.
Again, I personally think it’s dangerous to exclude anyone from the selection pool. I’m just trying to talk about some of the concerns people might have with the lottery mechanism.
One of the first thing authoritarians do is eliminate or crush intellectuals. The Soviets murdered all of the Polish intellectuals. The Khmer Rouge did the same thing. Even wearing glasses made you “guilty”. They don’t want anyone who can talk back.