Mallorea and Riva wrote:If you want a thread to discuss your economic theory, make a thread about it specifically.
Last night I watched a PewDiePie video about Lil Tay. Nearly 600,000 people have given it a thumbs up. You've probably all heard of PewDiePie, but have any of you heard of Samuel C. Rickless? A few days ago I read his paper about democracy...
Unfortunately, throwing out the scientific method will have very serious repercussions on George’s ability to live in a world that has been sculpted by the results of scientific investigation. Most every artifact used by human beings has been vetted by science. If George abjures reliance on science, then he is rationally committed to abjuring reliance on modern means of transportation (cars, airplanes), communication (cell phones), information transmission (television, wifi), shelter (skyscrapers), food production (synthetic products), sanitation (the sewage system), energy delivery (electricity, gas), medical care (drugs, surgical procedures), and more. It would be irrational for George to place a television advertisement, call his legislator, drive to church, turn on his air conditioner, take painkillers for a headache, and do most of the things he takes for granted without thinking of the scientific imprimatur they have received. - Samuel C. Rickless, A Transcendental Argument For Liberalism
I e-mailed the author and pointed out that the relative effectiveness of democracy has not been vetted by science. He responded, which kinda surprised me, but he didn't seem bothered by my observation, which didn't surprise me. Personally, I'm super perturbed by the fact that democracy has not been vetted by science, which is why I've been conducting my own experiments here on NationStates...
Experiment #1
Experiment #2
Experiment #3 (ongoing)
There have been a "few" very outspoken critics. They really don't appreciate that the only reason that I'm conducting these informal experiments is because nobody has conducted any formal ones. Some real scientists have conducted a formal experiment to determine whether there's a correlation between menstrual cycles and conservatism, but absolutely no real scientists have conducted a formal experiment to determine whether ballot voting (BV) or donation voting (DV) is more effective at ranking things. And it's not like BV and DV are purely theoretical mechanisms. All the scholarly papers in the world are ranked by BV while all the non-profits in the world are ranked by DV. These two ranking mechanisms are significantly responsible for determining the social order... but they aren't equally effective at doing so. It either is, or isn't, beneficial that BV ranks PewDiePie much higher than Rickless.
In terms of science, what's awesome about pragmatarianism is that it evolved from something that we, the members of this forum, could not test (people choosing where their taxes go) into something that we can test (BV VS DV). But even though we can, at least informally, test pragmatarianism, do we have any sort of obligation to do so? Of course! The professional scientists have overlooked something incredibly important. They have a huge blindspot when it comes to ranking mechanisms. Therefore, in order to uncover a fundamental truth about our world, we must rise to the challenge. We have to become citizen scientists.
In this thread we won't just discuss pragmatarianism, we'll use BV and DV to help rank pragmatarianism and its alternatives. In order to BV for your preferred political system simply share it in a reply to this thread. In order to donate for it, you must make a purchase from the NationStates store. You can't purchase Telegraph Stamps because doing so doesn't put a trophy on your Nation page, which is the only acceptable proof of purchase. Once you've made your purchase reply to this thread with the amount rounded up (ie $2.99 -> $3) and indicate your preferred political system. Previous purchases/donations cannot be applied to your preferred system. If you already have Postmaster-General, then in order to donate for your preferred system, you’ll have to make a purchase for somebody who doesn’t already have Postmaster-General. It's a great gift to give!
Rules
- Voting with puppets is prohibited
- You can only have one preferred political system
- System names can't be longer than six words
- Changing your vote requires a persuasive argument
- Previous donations can’t be applied to your preferred political system
- Screenshots can’t be used as proof of donation
- Trophies will be used as proof of donation
Results
| BV | DV |
| 6 - capracracy 4 - ＦＵＬＬＹ ＡＵＴＯＭＡＴＥＤ ＬＵＸＵＲＹ ＧＡＹ ＳＰＡＣＥ ＣＯＭＭＵＮＩＳＭ 3 - ultranational socialism 3 - democratic socialism 2 - pragmatarianism 1 - anarcho-chadism 1 - traditionalist conservatism 1 - rechtgläubigen vollhandarbeiter alltagslebener sexualitätsapathischer antipragmatartistischer Syntheseanarchismus 1 - classical liberalism 1 - republican libertarianism 1 - third position libertarianism | $45 - capracracy $23 - pragmatarianism |
Discussion
- Is BV or DV better at ranking things?
- How could NS make it easier for us to test the difference between BV and DV?
- Should people have the option to use their donations to help rank non-profits?
- Should people have the option to use their Netflix fees to help rank its content?
- Should people have the option to use their tax dollars to help rank government activities?
[Survey last updated to include Lord Dominator's input]
