Vilfredo goes to Athens - Room: Common

What is the purpose of one's life?

Mon, 20 Feb 2012 12:15:42 +0100

Status: Agreement Found!

What is the primary root of current social, political and economic problems?

Mon, 13 Feb 2012 01:13:32 +0100

Status: Now in Generation 8

For every thousand hacking at the leaves of evil, there is one striking at the root. − Henry David Thoreau

("Evil" is not the emphasis here; "root" is the emphasis. There are wise sources that suggest that evil does not exist, and with good reason. Also, let us allow that there may be multiple roots, so that the question seeks the "primary" root.)

How might Vilfredo integrate with the Occupy Movement?

Thu, 26 Jan 2012 00:12:13 +0100

Status: Now in Generation 1

The Occupy Movement, at it's core, is based on a similar concept as Vilfredo, that of horizontal, or direct, democracy. It's General Assembly process seems to be most effective at deciding things on a local scale, while garnering large scale interest in change towards something that a system like Vilfredo offers. It seems to me that a merger of the two forms would be advantageous to all.

What is Vilfredo goes to Athens?

Tue, 20 Dec 2011 10:00:02 +0100

Status: Agreement Found!

Please define what is Vilfredo goes to Athens and why we need to use it.

How can we best organise discussions in a collaborative governance system?

Sun, 14 Aug 2011 09:00:16 +0100

Status: Agreement Found!

Projects such as Vilfredo, Votorola, Metagovernment aim to achieve consensus using various voting methods. But the voting procedure also needs to be preceded and accompanied by a discussion process. The purposes served by the discussion process include the following:

* Defining the issue at hand - what are we trying to resolve?
* Seeing if there is a consensus on data/facts relevant to the issue, for instance, "the council has up to $10,000 to spend on new playground equipment"
* Commenting on proposals, suggesting edits, giving reasons for your rejection of a proposal
* Rallying additional support for the proposal you favour by stating your reasons for voting for it
* Bringing new ideas to the discussion which are not yet fully formed as new proposals
* Commenting on the voting process, point out any anomalies or unusual voting behaviour, discussing who has submitted/supported a proposal (if this information is made available)

Some of the points which should be taken into consideration in order to design an effective discussion platform are:

* Visibility - which comments get seen first/by the most people - how and why?
* Volume - how much text can any one user be expected to absorb and how could it be limited?
* Integration - how will the discussion platform be integrated alongside the processes of editing proposals and voting?
* Positive contribution - how can we encourage people to make positive contributions and avoid the discussion descending into arguments between users?
* Real world - how can we integrate discussions taking place offline, for example physical meetings, into an online discussion platform?

come realizzare la democrazia con gli strumenti del 21esimo secolo

Wed, 16 Mar 2011 04:00:12 +0100

Status: Now in Generation 5

In molti hanno la sensazione che la democrazia settecentesca, nella quale si eleggono rappresentanti che ti rappresentano per quattro o cinque anni, non sia più sufficiente. La gente oggi ha i mezzi per essere informata, per esprimere la propria opinione, per contare di più. Usando gli strumenti che già sono stati sviluppati, come si puo' realizzare concretamente l'idea della democrazia consentendo la partecipazione dei cittadini senza cadere nel caos ?

What is the origin of Profit?

Mon, 14 Feb 2011 17:00:13 +0100

Status: Now in Generation 5

Using the definition of profit as the difference between the Price a Consumer pays to buy an Object and the Costs the Owners of the Sources paid for that production:

Profit == Object_Consumer_Price - Source_Owner_Costs

Notice Profit is 'undefined' when the Object Consumer is simultaneously the Source Owner because the Owner of Sources is the Owner of Objects automatically - as a sort of "side effect" of his owning the Sources.

For example:Â If you own an apple tree, you must pay for all the costs to install, water, prune and harvest and any Wages to any workers you hire.Â But you can't pay Profit because you don't sell the fruit to yourself - you *already* own it.

Does this mean the origin of profit is the Consumers' lack of Ownership in the Sources of Production?

Democrazia a ciclo continuo e alternato

Mon, 14 Feb 2011 06:02:22 +0100

Status: Now in Generation 1

Io sono convinto del fatto che il concetto stesso di democrazia sia in continua evoluzione.
In questo percorso gli interessi egoistici fanno si che viva picchi e valli.
I picchi sono sempre in coincidenza con un livello di istruzione elevato e una informazione libera.
Quindi il concetto basilare Ã© il passaggio di conoscenza.
Senza passaggio di conoscenza la democrazia Ã© impossibile.
Essendo la rete una forma per attingere alla conoscenza Ã© evidentemente strumento di democrazia.
E' sensato ipotizzare una rete nella quale la conoscenza sia sempre condivisa e scambiata, lo Ã© altrettanto pensare che da queste nozioni ne derivi una scelta.
Dare la possibilitÃ agli utenti di internet di scambiare informazioni ma anche di agire politicamente in un contesto democratico mi sembra la normale evluzione di uno srumento nato per relazionarsi.
Il pericolo verrÃ sempre da chi Ã© interessato ad interpolare le informazioni, cambiare i fatti o farli sparire.
Come far si che l'informazione sia attendibile? Come sbarrare le porte a mistificazioni? Come garantire che il server o i server che accolgono la volontÃ popolare siano sempre al sicuro da manomissioni di ogni tipo?
Dalla teoria (condivisa da tutti), alla pratica, direi.
Emanuele

What are the key research challenges in ICT as applied to e-government?

Tue, 01 Feb 2011 03:00:02 +0100

Status: Now in Generation 5

TheÂ Crossroad groupÂ which is working in building "A PARTICIPATIVE ROADMAP FOR ICT RESEARCH IN ELECTRONIC GOVERNANCE AND POLICY MODELLING"Â has published a question:

What are the key research challenges in this domain?

and the full text is:

Todayâ€™s complex societal challenges require wide collaborative action and behavioural change by all stakeholders. Nevertheless, the current collaboration tools engage only highly interested people, and rarely enable real action and impact, by citizens and government alike. Challenges to wider participation include information overload, trust in user-generated data, privacy, debate manipulation, inclusion and representativeness.Â
There are several complementary research areas in ICT for governance that have the opportunity to address the need for collaboration and behavioral change throughout different technological layers: enhanced data availability through public linked data and participatory sensing, analytical capability through opinion mining and visual analytics, and action-oriented tools such as simulation and serious gaming. These trends mutually reinforce each other to offer a new opportunity for future governance and policy modeling.

The question is availableÂ here. And you are welcome to go there and vote. But we can try to answer the question ourself, and then publish our suggestion in their website. Since there is a deadline by the 15 of october, we have to run this quite rapidly, possibly having a new phase every other day

is there a better phrase than 'open source democracy'?

Thu, 13 Jan 2011 14:00:03 +0100

Status: Agreement Found!

Many phrases have been thrown around -- direct democracy, open source democracy, online democracy, eGov, etc. Perhaps some of these are too specific, others seem to refer to other goals.

THIS IS A TWO-PART QUESTION:

1) What is the most best (most descriptive, most comprehensive, etc) phrase to describe the goals of online community governance in a democratic framework?

2) And what are the criteria for the ideal phrase?

Note: please propose answers to *both* questions, as separate proposals. These are asked together so that the generations are coupled, and so that the currently agreed-upon criteria are visible as people propose new answers.

Suppose there were no copyright laws. How would the world be different?

Thu, 25 Nov 2010 00:00:15 +0100

Status: Agreement Found!

Suppose there were no copyright laws. How would the world be different? What forms of art would happen? What not? What would be changed? How could manuals still be written? What would be lost?

Humanismo

Sun, 10 Oct 2010 13:00:19 +0100

Status: Agreement Found!

para que sirve la corriente humanista?

What is the solution to the banking crisis?

Fri, 24 Sep 2010 02:00:14 +0100

Status: Agreement Found!

What is the solution to the banking crisis?

What venue should Metagovernment use for Meeting 6

Thu, 04 Mar 2010 10:29:00 +0100

Status: Agreement Found!

Meeting 6 of the Metagovernment project is Sunday, March 7.

Three different venues have been suggested, and many others are possible. What venue should we use?

You probably should only participate in this question is you are considering attending the meeting.

What might be the role of Vilfredo in online democracy?

Sun, 07 Feb 2010 03:03:20 +0100

Status: Agreement Found!

Why does Capitalism fail for most participants?

Thu, 07 Jan 2010 21:11:01 +0100

Status: Agreement Found!

It is common thinking to blame the failure of Capitalism on 'greed' exhibited by some of the actors.

But that is like blaming the failure of an Operating System kernel (such as FreeDOS, Linux) on processes that attempt to hoard all or most of the CPU, RAM, Network throughput, Video Memory, etc.

We can't blame the failure of the system on any individual participants because the entire purpose of the system is to withstand processes or humans exhibiting 'bad' behavior so we all have a chance to 'win'.

I am trying to ask why Capitalism fails to inhibit the actions that eventually cause the system to become unstable and finally 'collapse'.

What 'rules' would a corrected system require and what would it disallow?

What causes excessive accumulation (what is the real cause of Profit), and how would a corrected system handle that value?

Since Profit only occurs during scarcity, treating it as a reward for the current owners tends to incent the withholding and even destruction of real solutions. For example, the US Farm Bill once again pays farmers to NOT grow for the purpose of keeping Price above Cost. Arable land is held out of production to increase scarcity because scarcity is the basis of Profit.

But the original purpose of production is *product*, not *profit*. We don't seek scarcity in small groups - we seek abundance. A family doesn't work against itself, it works together.

So what "flips this over"? Why are the goals of Capitalism inverted from our original goals of community? When and why do we switch gears from Freedom to Power?

Patrick Anderson

Should we abolish 'questions' and replace them with 'topics' or 'issues'?

Mon, 28 Dec 2009 07:59:41 +0100

Status: Agreement Found!

It is really hard to frame a question well anyway, and in any case the focus may shift as the debate goes on, and the original framing may need to be reframed.

So, shall we rename 'questions' to 'topic of discussion' or something like that?

Logo para Eudemocracia

Mon, 28 Dec 2009 02:59:41 +0100

Status: Agreement Found!

...

What can we do to make the participation and communication in metascore/megoverment better.

Sun, 20 Dec 2009 10:59:54 +0100

Status: Agreement Found!

What can we do to make the participation and communication in metascore/megoverment better.

Energy

Tue, 15 Dec 2009 04:22:45 +0100

Status: Agreement Found!

This question/topic is an experiment in taking democratically-authored policy positions from openpolitics.ca and putting them on here to see if the Vilfredo system is superior to the existing wiki + issue/position/argument methodology used at openpolitics.ca and elsewhere.

What is the moral standing of non-human animals, and how does it differ from human animals (if ...

Sat, 12 Dec 2009 02:03:43 +0100

Status: Agreement Found!

In Western societies, the moral standing of animals is inherited from Judeo-Christian culture. In societies that are moving away from religious foundation, onto values based in rational thought, the moral standing of animals must be reconsidered.

Some things to consider:

What qualities make humans different from other animals? Is there a difference of degree or of kind? Is there any quality found in humans, not found to some degree in other animals?

If another species came along, with these qualities in higher degrees than humans, how would that affect the moral standing of humans amongst the aliens?

Consider the status of these qualities in children, particularly newborn infants? How does this affect the moral standing of children?

How about people with mental or physical impairment? Or emotional or psychological differences?

To what extent are we privileging qualities held by humans, just because we are humans? What about qualities held by other animals that are not held by humans, or to a lesser degree?

Which kind of business without copyright?

Tue, 08 Dec 2009 15:02:56 +0100

Status: Agreement Found!

True art will not die without copyright laws (see this question).
But what will happen the the publishing, music and movie industry?

Under what form do you think that this kind of consensus building techinque, can be applied for ...

Tue, 17 Nov 2009 12:59:49 +0100

Status: Agreement Found!

Would introducing open web based transactions using biometric smart card help?

Thu, 05 Nov 2009 18:59:58 +0100

Status: Agreement Found!

Would eliminating currency transactions the world over and introducing a radically transparent open web based transactions using biometric smart card help to eliminate corruption, money laundering, arms trade, drugs trade, terrorism, etc?

nombres posibles para la asociacion civil...

Tue, 27 Oct 2009 19:00:03 +0100

Status: Agreement Found!

This is a NO private poll, from Argentina (:

What are the different ways in which a citizen can interact with their government through the ...

Sun, 18 Oct 2009 08:00:02 +0100

Status: Agreement Found!

Vivek Kundra, the CIO of the United States, has committed to providing open access to government data through Data.gov. In a recent interview with WIRED magazine, he highlighted the importance of raw data. This data would allow deeper insights for analysts and developers alike, but how can ordinary citizens interact with government data on the Internet?

Genre for a role-playing game campaign

Mon, 05 Oct 2009 03:00:02 +0100

Status: Agreement Found!

I am about to prepare a role-playing game campaign for a group of friends, and am very uncertain about the genre or setting for it. On the one hand I like treading more or less classic paths (fantasy, spy stories, time travel...), on the other one I'd like to experiment with something new with possibly some surprises for the player. What should I prepare and then run?

P.S. Possibly not important, but I intend to use GURPS as the game system.

How should Pietro and Derek collaborate on developing Vilfredo?

Sat, 03 Oct 2009 15:12:30 +0100

Status: Agreement Found!

How should Pietro and Derek collaborate on developing Vilfredo?

Which is the best form of government?

Sat, 15 Aug 2009 10:00:03 +0100

Status: Agreement Found!

Which is the best form of government?

Let us write together a political science fiction story

Wed, 12 Aug 2009 01:59:10 +0100

Status: Agreement Found!

Now for something totally different:

As we are testing the system, we should try tot test it in different, unexpected ways. So let us try something new. Let us see if this system can be used to write a story. And since most of us are interested in science-technological-social-political fiction, that is how science and politics will be changed by technological advancement we should write such a story.

The story is set up in 2060, 51 years from now. Internet is ubiquitous, and it has pervaded society, as well as the real world. Politics is run through the internet.

In this setting let us tell our story.

It was a good day of spring when...

What would be a universally-acceptable solution to the abortion dispute?

Wed, 05 Aug 2009 10:00:03 +0100

Status: Agreement Found!

The abortion dispute is frequently polarized into two camps, which politicians describe as "pro-life" (ant-abortion) and "pro-choice" (anti-totalitarian).

However, most people are both pro-choice and pro-life. That is, hardly anyone wants to see abortion as a rampant facet of society. Likewise, hardly anyone wants the government regulating the physiology and choices of citizens.

So what can society do to make abortion a rarity other than making it illegal? And can proposed solutions be acceptable by the great majority of society?

Obama has just released the torture memo. What would you suggest him to do?

Wed, 05 Aug 2009 00:00:02 +0100

Status: Agreement Found!

Obama has just released the torture memo. He is being criticized by both sides, for different reasons. What would you suggest him to do? Not just in relation to the critics, but to what other information should be released, who should be protected, and who should be investigated of the past administration. In short on, and around this topic, and everything involved.

Which is the meaning of life?

Thu, 30 Jul 2009 13:00:03 +0100

Status: Agreement Found!

Which is the meaning of life?

A slogan for a physical ad about open source governance.

Thu, 23 Jul 2009 12:10:30 +0100

Status: Agreement Found!

A minimal ad want to be created, containing only a web direction (i.e. metagovernment.org) and the slogan.

The ad is primary aimed to the university ambient. It shouldn't be very conventional (like "people's government") nor too un-conventional (like "open source democracy").

How can the US improve its healthcare system?

Tue, 21 Jul 2009 09:29:33 +0100

Status: Agreement Found!

There is a growing consensus that the United States healthcare system is in disarray -- costs are high, outcomes poor, businesses are struggling and millions of people are uninsured.

How could this system be reformed?

How do you balance the Love of Nature with the Power of the Internet?

Sun, 12 Jul 2009 11:35:40 +0100

Status: Agreement Found!

How do you balance the Love of Nature with the Power of the Internet?

What aspects of UserVoice.com would be helpful for Vilfredo?

Sun, 12 Jul 2009 11:35:12 +0100

Status: Agreement Found!

What aspects of UserVoice.com would be helpful for Vilfredo?

What questions should be added in the FAQ?

Wed, 08 Jul 2009 11:05:56 +0100

Status: Agreement Found!

The FAQ is in the front page right now. What questions should be added?

What should be the question about this summer, and should it be binding?

Wed, 08 Jul 2009 08:06:33 +0100

Status: Agreement Found!

Metaquestion: What should be the question about this summer, and should it be binding?

Let us decide when, where and what we should do this summer

Wed, 08 Jul 2009 08:06:33 +0100

Status: Agreement Found!

We had a good time last summer together, but it needs to be organised in time. So, let us decide when, where and what we should do this summer. Although it is non binding, it should be intended that it might be possible for it to happen, and if it does not we should tell each other, asap.

I am buying a new house. How should I open up the renovation process?

Wed, 08 Jul 2009 08:06:33 +0100

Status: Agreement Found!

I am buying a new house, it's old, in stones and wood, with half an hectar of land. It has wonderful potentiality! I would like to open up the renovation process by putting all the plans on the internet, the photo, the video, and then ask on the web suggestions on how to renovate it. How should I do that? What software? What websites? I have my own website, so I can install something there too.

What is the most plausible way for humanity to tackle universal issues that traverse all boundaries?

Wed, 08 Jul 2009 08:06:33 +0100

Status: Agreement Found!

What is the most plausible (feasible, realistic, etc.) way for humanity to tackle universal issues that traverse all boundaries (geographic, cultural, etc.) ? (ie. collective action and responsibility for issues like the climate change, Internet governance and regulation, financial markets regulation, etc.)