David Lee Andrew
Nov 6 · 1 min read

Yes, I had already read your How AI Undermines Democracy & appreciated it. You quote Richard Dawkins whom I admire & enjoy.

My own inclinations, as you might have seen, are for substantial constitutional reform. I advocate compulsory voting (as we have in Australia; it’s akin to compulsory education & taxation); an independent national electoral commission responsible for elections, boundaries & distributions at all levels of public office (as we have in Australia); redefinition of freedom of speech to require, on one hand, complete elimination of ‘national security’ restrictions on information release & access, & on the other, a requirement for truth in all assertive ‘speech’, including political, commercial & scientific claims (this exists nowhere so far as I know).

I agree with Dawkins that decisions requiring scientific knowledge should not be put to popular vote; China has long referred technical questions to technocrats for instance. There is then a danger of elitism & insular irrelevance, at least in non-technical specialisations like foreign policy. I read the Australian Strategic Policy Institute newsletter; believe me, it would be unwise to entrust foreign policy to those people.

So, we need information we can trust; we need to participate. We need specialists we can trust; we need to delegate.

I think your writing implies that AI can assist with this. I hope so; historically, reliance upon the honesty of politicians has been insufficient.