Forgive me if this sounds like a stupid idea (and feel free to point that out), but I’m proposing a form of governance based on artificially intelligent computing. The reason behind this thought, besides the imperfection of mankind, is that Earth’s population has grown so exponentially that wherever you go you’re liable to find complex, interwoven and yet polarized networks of interests that no amount of reason or consideration in a political decision-making process can ever contain or appease. The current form of governance in the most democratic nations is suffering with the very core tenet of democracy, that is, every single person is entitled to an equal vote in an election, and this includes all kinds of idiots who thoughtlessly and irresponsibly continue to make matters worse by voting like shit-for-brains, and this is no more apparent that in the current successful bid by a person like Donald Trump. You may hate him all you like, but you can’t dismiss the fact that the thing he’s the most aggressive symptom of is democracy. With my proposed solution, however, there’ll be none of that shit, and there will be no presidents or political leaders with dicks that need to be sucked or agendas that need to be fulfilled or conspiracies that need to be effected. Indeed, a supercomputer will only need maintenance staff, a reliable programmer, and perhaps some polishing every so often. The benefits of this model of governance are mind-blowing, and no more will political or economic decisions be made at the top or bottom of any clientelistic network; no decisions will be made mindful of popularity, public opinion or the media; no decisions will be made to suck up to this or that political actor. Everything will be absolutely evidence-based, impartial and pragmatic in a process that sees the supercomputer gather all the necessary information about a situation, apply an AI model to it, and make the goddamn decision without a click of voltage.
An additional benefit to this model is that all decisions will be made based on the equality of all people before the coded master. This means progressive decisions will be made on fronts that are usually sensitive and hard to get past representative majorities and the general public, such as allowing same-sex marriage, abortion and things that don’t sit well with the conservatives that the liberals need to wait until a generation of conservatives has died in order to shake things up a little bit more with the next one, which is an absurd approach to getting anything done when the rights to be homosexual or anything-sexual or to abort a fetus should be recognized and respected beyond whatever the hell anyone thinks, believes or reads in their Mother Goose books. Furthermore, this model will have a significant effect on how people protest, because they know there is no changing a computer’s opinion on a decision that was made based on facts. In such world, lobbying would be rendered meaningless, and things that will benefit the vast majority of people in the most versatile way are going to be in effect, while ensuring that no single case of injustice goes unredeemed, and that’s that. The same goes for foreign policy, and there’ll be no more nonsense about national dignity and sovereignty and all that fraud in the name of which millions of people have died and continue to die.
The only problem with this whole thing though is that the supercomputer will still have to make self-serving decisions, in terms of preserving the status quo and ensuring an uninterrupted supply of electricity, but it’s still something I can get behind, bearing in mind that the benefits far outweigh the cost, is all.
