Re: [apsa_itp] a quiet revolution in democracy - Very quiet!

["Peter Muhlberger" <peter.muhlberger@xxxxxxxxx>]

Hi folks:  The following exchange actually goes rather well to support
a point I made earlier against the rational ignorance hypothesis,
saying that the real issue is identity not economic rationality.
Michael has deeply internalized his membership in the open source
quadrant of the Internet, so much so that he appears to spend much of
his life and time contributing freely to this community (albeit in
fairness, I'm guessing he draws a salary from somewhere...).  His
connection to the community is valuable and critical to him, and
overrides economic rationality (he could probably make a lot more
money working for Microsoft...).  It's very easy for him to imagine
that others are like him and could bring such a community identity to
the political sphere, making politics 'open source'.  He even predicts
an 'open source' world govt. in 6-10 years (now there's a bet I'd like
to take ;-) .... ).  Steffen, my more cynical social science
colleague, sees things from an economic rationality point of view and
simply can't imagine a world in which more than a tiny fraction of the
public (and an irrational one at that!) would participate in direct
democracy.  My own view is intermediate between these.  I think
Steffen accurately describes how most people are today--trying hard to
make ends meet and maximizing their economic payoffs.  On the other
hand, how people are today is not how they necessarily must be, though
change would not be easy.

The contrast between Steffen and Michael leads to some interesting
questions:  With many people desperately trying to make ends meet in
their Walmart jobs, how can we expect them to contribute meaningfully
to politics?  There may need to be economic structural changes to make
idealistic self governance fly....  Michael no doubt draws intrinsic
pleasure from solving
complex problems and contributing meaningfully to the computing
community.  But, how many people can make real contributions to the
political community that would sustain their engagement?

Cheers, Peter

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