Posted by Today’s election results (13/12/2019, exit poll based) in the UK are a stark reminder to us all that democracy in the form it is practiced now — representative democracy — is dead. A buffoon will now be Prime Minister of Britain for 5 years. The only reason for his victory is the absolute joker who leads the Labour Party. This joker did not take a stand on the most important issue of the day — Brexit — and took his party to the extreme left over the last 5 years. And the people in the country have paid the price — because you cannot expect people to have the knowledge to make critical decisions for a country. In a representative democracy, representatives are elected to do this, with the help of experts in the form of bureaucrats and consultants. The problem arises when these representatives represent not the population, but the extreme polarised views among the politically active, in the population. Democracy in the current form has probably run its course. In a hyperconnected world, people can demand things individually or in groups and neutral representatives can act on them — and let those who demand understand whether it makes sense to do what they want or not, with sufficient reasoning and justification. There is no need to have silly political parties anymore. All that the people in a country should be asked to do is elect representatives from among the smartest (well educated with proven skills, such as from the professions) with no political affiliation whatsoever. We no longer need people with oratorial skills — people in the current world connect with each other online. We need those with the abilities to execute, in the interests of the people they represent, with the help of experts. In a way, we will have to go back to democracy the way it all started — a direct form of democracy, with people voting online on any decisions that are being made, though they should get the right to vote on a decision only after they have listened to (or read through) all that is relevant to that decision, including expert opinions, reasoning and justification. These will not be referendums, but informed votes by people who have understood what they are voting for or against.
Politics is no longer relevant. There is no need to persuade people without giving them information when we have an information glut. Let us use the data that are available to inform the people (ourselves) in such a way that they can be an integral part of any decision that is made about their country and its future. The role of elected representatives should just be the execution of projects for the people.
We no longer need a Prime Minister or a President for a term of 4 or 5 years. In fact, a Prime Minister or President is the vestige of a monarchy. We do not need any ‘elected’ kings or queens when every person in the country can be part of the governance of the country.
The change that is being proposed here is not one that can be implemented overnight, let alone a few years. This will have to be implemented in phases over decades, but this is the only way to go in a hyperconnected world where everyone has access to information and things change so quickly. Anyone with a political affiliation as an elected representative will be a liability to the efficiency of governance of the country. What we need are experts, not those who can talk and persuade people. Persuasion will happen with evidence presented in the form of incontrovertible data — isn’t this the best way forward when we have zettabytes of data being generated and backed up by the hour around the world?
The age of elected representatives from political parties is over when people start voting for the least incompetent among the incompetents. It is the future of our world that is at stake here. We need to kickstart a narrative here so that it reaches critical mass at least by 2030. It is imperative that jokers, hustlers and incompetent jerks no longer are in charge of making decisions that impact huge swathes of the global population, at least by the middle of this century.
