A Modern Man Who Transmigrated Into the Murim World - Ch. 23

[MangaDex]

 

[vodkavodka]

But the scholar is right. The main flaw of democracy is that the common people are too emotional, don't understand politics, and are easily swayed. Democracy sounds good, but in reality it's terribly inefficient and it's controlled by elites from the shadows. It is a very foolish thing to assume that the modern political system can be applied to a medieval society. The main character here is the arrogant one.

 

[Ceruleadge]

But the scholar is right. The main flaw of democracy is that the common people are too emotional, don't understand politics, and are easily swayed. Democracy sounds good, but in reality it's terribly inefficient and it's controlled by elites from the shadows. It is a very foolish thing to assume that the modern political system can be applied to a medieval society. The main character here is the arrogant one.

I agree democracy isn’t the solution to Confucianism but it’s not because of some conspiracy theory. I’d understand if it was socialism in question but damn lol. And the scholar’s reasoning for disagreeing with democracy wasn’t right at all, especially for the time. The #1 complaint would’ve been with abolishing the monarchy and reasons for why they should or shouldn’t be in power in comparison to a democratically appointed leader. Yes complaints of the votes legitimacy would’ve been in question but not as a first response.

 

[MrSkeltal]

But the scholar is right. The main flaw of democracy is that the common people are too emotional, don't understand politics, and are easily swayed. Democracy sounds good, but in reality it's terribly inefficient and it's controlled by elites from the shadows. It is a very foolish thing to assume that the modern political system can be applied to a medieval society. The main character here is the arrogant one.

You've understood the problem but failed to recognize it.

The problem isn't with democracy, the problem is that elites undermine democracy. So long as it remains possible for individuals or private interests to amass limitless wealth and power, tyranny will remain inevitable. So long as the ultra rich are allowed to exist, they will use their wealth and power to influence legislators, control the media, eliminate or absorb all competition, and ultimately seize power directly.

No matter which political system you try to implement under capitalism, it will inevitably devolve into plutocracy.

This isn't to say that democracy is without flaw. Representative democracies also possess the inherent flaw of creating a ruling class of political elites. We see a similar problem arising in Marxist-Leninism, where all matters of governance are controlled by a technocratic elite. In other words, communism inevitably leads to tyranny, just the same as capitalism does. After all, so long as power is allowed to centralize, it will do so, and thus a ruling class will form.

Humans are simply not capable of remaining uncorrupted by power. There has been extensive cognitive science research on the corrupting effects of power. Power, wealth, high status, etc., they very literally impair the brain. They cause individuals to become afflicted by Power Abuse Disorder. Few people are capable of resisting or resolving this, but such people would never seek that level of power to begin with, because it has no allure to them. For further reading, I suggest "On power and its corrupting effects: the effects of power on human behavior and the limits of accountability systems". It's a medium length essay, not a book.

As for the solution to these problems, it's pretty simple when you consider the roots of the problem. The problems with any system of government or economics boil down to two points:
1. The centralization of power into a ruling elite, who will absolutely be corrupted by that power.
2. The ignorance of humans, whether they be rulers or farmers.

The first step is the simplest. Divest and depose the ruling class and implement a wealth cap ratio, where the richest individual cannot be more than 10x wealthier than the poorest individual. Eliminate all hegemonic business models, where owners and CEOs rule the company like kings while their employees are disposable pawns; replace them with democratic business models, such as with co-ops or unions.

Then progressively transition to a more direct democracy. Take power away from legislators and "representatives" who are subject to corruption. However, before this can be fully accomplished the key step is needed. Education. What you're imagining is not what I'm referring to. Not education in the current sense, not classrooms with rows of tables and senseless repetition. Such institutions exist to brainwash children into being obedient and subservient to a system of monotonous rules.

Education must be founded entirely upon empirically verified research into the most effective models of learning, incorporating cognitive behavioral science in every aspect of learning. This is not one sided. Children and adults, alike, must engage with and understand how to apply these methods in their own daily lives. In other words, education is not a means to instill knowledge, but a means to instill the skills needed to constantly improve one's own comprehension of themselves, of others, and of the world around us.

Every single human must learn and understand behavioral cognition in a practical sense, implementing that understanding into our very worldview and establishing our entire culture upon that understanding. In a world where everyone understands the human mind, and where everyone knows that everyone else understands the human mind, we become immune to propaganda, disinformation, and the vast majority of our tribalistic fallacies which so consistently impede our civilization.

On top of this, we must ensure that the basic needs of all citizens are fully met. In the past, this would be impossible. But with modern technology, it is beyond easy. Healthcare, housing, education, food, and a healthy community. In such a world, every farmer can be an environmental scientist and biologist. Every carpenter can be an engineer. There's no reason why an engineer should sit at a desk and a carpenter should build the house. The same is true of almost all professions. In such a culture, education is no longer an institution, but a way of life. Humans are tribalistic animals. We strive, above all things, to be "good members of our tribe." If our tribe values these things, we will happily engage with them.

Upon such a foundation, the issues of direct democracy are resolved. Legislators hold no decision making power, they work not as technocrats, but simply as experts of their fields. They work only to implement programs and petitions which have been voted in by local or national popular vote. Voting can be conducted through an app, similar to a social media app. People can simply follow the subjects they're interested and vote on things they care about within their locality and at a national level. After all, a doctor is unlikely to have any need to vote on matters of farming, but they can choose to if they want.

If you've been convinced by what I've written here, then congratulations, you're now officially a Democratic Socialist.

 

[vodkavodka]

...
If you've been convinced by what I've written here, then congratulations, you're now officially a Democratic Socialist.

Looks like I'm not destined to become a Democratic Socialist.

What you're describing sounds good at first glance, but on closer inspection it's a soon-to-be rotting dystopia that will require an ungodly amount of censorship, propaganda, and policing to keep it from falling apart. You seem to understand that people tend to game the system, but then you come to the bizarre conclusion that adding more rules or redesigning the system will magically checkmate human nature. Not to mention that, realistically speaking, such a system will never survive in a globalist world without resorting to complete isolation, and that will bring a whole new set of problems.

Lets go trough your solutions one by one. Capping the wealth. Do you know how wealthy people avoid paying taxes? They hide their wealth. There will always be a way, no matter how many rules you create. Wealth doesn't have to be physical, so storing it is as easy as writing a note on toilet paper. You fight this by legalizing wealth, not by putting a clown cap on it.

Replacing CEOs with co-ops. The only difference between a cooperative and a regular corporation is that instead of being owned by shareholders or stockholders, a co-op is owned by its members. This doesn't suddenly mean that a large co-op corporation doesn't need a board of directors. The workers are not experts in running the business. They have conflicting interests. They don't have a unified strategic vision. They are vulnerable to manipulation, and so on. The dilution of authority can have severe consequences for businesses, particularly if there are no plans to withdraw from the global economy.

Replacing CEOs with unions. We are dangerously close to Communism. Unions are good at two things: protecting workers and making production more expensive and slower. Unions are also extremely weak against brain rot and populism. And no matter what, in a capitalist system, unions will be unable to make hard decisions like firing workers or making budget cuts. When Hollywood was in a downward spiral and the threat of AI loomed, SAG-AFTRA went on strike, giving the corpos a golden opportunity to cut unprofitable production and replace creators with AI. This is the level of collective intelligence of the unions.

Another problem is that workers don't even necessarily care about succeeding at their job. All the flopping AAA games that have led to the closure of many studios lately is a prime example of what happens when a company is run by a committee of workers who have no idea what they're doing and have too many resources at their disposal with no oversight. They don't even care if anyone will consume their product outside of their circle, even if it cost half a billion to make.

Through education we become immune to propaganda, disinformation, and the vast majority of our tribalistic fallacies which so consistently impede our civilization. Lol. Are we talking about propaganda-level education, like instilling the ideas of class division in the USSR or intersectional politics in the modern U.S.? Propaganda will always fail. You can't indoctrinate people to be good citizens. And if you're talking about objective education, it's utopian to dream of dealing with the inherent inequalities in society. Blacks, on average, have lower academic achievement than Asians. Women are weaker than men. Many migrants from redacted are disproportionately redacted. Men die in wars, while women stay safe. Some people are weak, some people have low IQ, some people are ugly. Good luck solving these and many other problems without unfair equity and propaganda. Corpos tried to force this with ESG and DEI and look where it got them, people hate each other even more now.

We must ensure that the basic needs of all citizens are fully met. We sort of have this with welfare. Maybe excessive automation in production needs some fixing, like UBI, but in stamps or CBDC to control the irresponsible spenders. I am also in favor of universal healthcare coverage. I'm not really a full-blown ancap, you see?