#crowdocracy

[cobynrg]

Sapient Crewkerne changing & growing !!! Amazing people joined from many places across Europe. Developers Daulet (Kazakhstan) & Naeva (France), & statistician Ilaria (Italy), will continue developing our digital democracy apps @oviewapp & #crowdocracy. Joined by @diederikmallien & Hennes our writers & philosopher who write about democracy. Seher (Turkey), & Jose (Spain), will lead the development of our FoodWaste initiatives #healthyandaffordable & #fsennl. Ceyla (Turkey), Pelin (Turkey), Aysecan (Turkey), & Narmin (Eritrea) enhancing our MakeSense community, creating events, & preparing for our #sensecamp In November, helping social businesses solve their challenges. Shaista (Kashmir) auditing Sapient finances. Gizem (Turkey) Sapient administration, talent, & general support. Very much looking forward to the progress we'll create together in the next few months, & for the rest of the people joining in the next few weeks. #sapientsee #socialbusiness #betterworld #positivechanges #sensemakers #sensemakers #greatpeopledogreatthings (at Amsterdam, Netherlands)

[jesseturri]

The end of politics? (Democracy, Crowdocracy, and Technology)

“If a political party receives a tenth of all votes but no representation in government, can we claim the system is democratic and people’s voices are being heard? Should an international political body, bank or committee be able to decide the destiny of a country and its government? It is clear that democracy is struggling, political representatives seemingly more inclined to pursue their own ambitions than proactively address the challenging issues facing society. But is there any alternative and can we chart a wiser way forward? Most national populations feel disenfranchised with the political process and largely powerless to make any real difference themselves. Crowdocracy offers a radical new way forward, one that allows all of us – not just some of us – to participate in how we are governed. It offers a compelling examination of the contemporary relationships between people and politics. Crowdocracy suggests a new model for how people can decide their own future, create a new political landscape, and ultimately shape and govern their communities.”

The above paragraph is the description of Crowdocracy: The End of Politics by Alan Watkins and Iman Straitens. I haven’t read the book yet but I did recently listen to an interview with Watkins on the Daily Evolver with Jeff Salzman, where they discussed the concepts in the book.

As far as I can tell from the interview, the idea of “crowdocracy” sort of works by wisdom of the crowd. In other words, the idea is that a large group’s aggregated answers to questions are generally thought to be as good as, and often better than, the answers given by any of the individuals within the group. However, in order for the crowd to be “wise,” and not become a dumb mob, the crowd must have as much diversity as possible and as many differing opinions as possible. Obviously, the author points to technology and the internet for examples of how this works; sites like Wikipedia, reddit, Quora use this sort of crowd sourced social information/opinion gathering regularly with great success.

In theory, this “Crowdocracy” idea definitely appeals to my anarchic direct democray sensibilities; representative democracy obviously has it’s shortcomings, and the idea that, with enough diverse voices and difference of opinion, wisdom would prevail and politicians would not be needed sounds pretty great. But in the interview this Watkins guy seems to think that this sort of crowd sourced democracy could only work because of our modern day advanced technology; this is where my Marxist sensibilities kick in. It seems apparent to me that the people would also have to own the technology (the hardware, software, networks, infrastructure, etc.), for this sort of thing to work, otherwise I remain skeptical about how “crowdocracy” would be that much better than what we have now.

…

Painting above by Stephanie Ho

The end of politics? (Democracy, Crowdocracy, and Technology) was originally published on TURRI

[cobynrg]

****GREAT PEOPLE**** Most of the awesome current SapientSEE crew. From left to right: Pelin, Ceyla, Shaista, Coby, Diederik, Hilal, Maria Teresa. Missing: Velariia, Hennes, Peter. These are beside all the volunteers working on the different projects. More Padawans arriving the next 2 weeks to create an impact through our projects: @oviewapp #crowdocracy #healthyandaffordable #fsennl #sapientsee and more; and also through projects we support: @makesenseorg @tbywamsterdam #breadcycle @lunchiemarket.nl and other #foodwaste initiatives, @logiclocks #thecubeberlin #civocracy #represent #ecosia and more Join the movement, let's change some things to the better. Change is always possible, in fact, it is the only constant ;-) #greatpeopledogreatthings #socialbusiness #sensemakers #changemakers (at Oudemanhuispoort, Oudezijds Achterburgwal)

[cobynrg]

These are most of the amazing people behind all the projects of #Sapient: @oviewapp #Crowdocracy #FSENnl #HealthyAndAffordable #MakeSenseNL and more coming soon. Such an honor to work with such a cool crew, so talented and eager to learn, grow, & change the world. 5 of them are leaving us in a few days, but 10 new members will be joining in June. Looking forward to work with new, & staying in touch with the old. At the end, we are all one big family, 7 million strong. #carpediem #bestpeople #greatpeopledogreatthings #socialbusiness #socialentrepreneurship (at Wertheimpark)

[cobynrg]

#tnw2017 Registration crew at terminal 3. Welcoming the cool guests of TNW 2017 held this Thursday & Friday all over the #westerpark in Amsterdam. The biggest #techconference in Europe. 2nd year in the row I have the privilege to volunteer with the amazing crew that make it happen. Looking forward to see which great connections I'll make this year for #sapientsee and all of our projects, the ones we support, & our partners: @oviewapp #healthyandaffordable #crowdocracy #fsennl @makesenseorg @tbywamsterdam #breadcycle #teamacademy @knowmadsnl @so.nick95 And more.... With us luck ;-) (at Amsterdam Airport Schiphol)

[cobynrg]

These are the current Padawans at #Sapient An amazing group of people fighting #foodwaste with #FSENnl & #healthyandaffordable , supporting a #democracyrenewal with #crowdocracy & @oviewapp , & supporting #socialbusiness with @makesenseorg and #Sapient workshops . Great people do great things, at Sapient we are all #globalcitizens Are you? (at Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam)