I would like to put forward some ideas and ideals of democracy, actionable in this modern time given the technological capabilities we possess. I do not suggest these in conspiracy, but in votive of the wellbeing of my fellow human beings. While reading, you may well think to yourself “there’s no way that the people in positions of influence would implement this”, and if that is true, then in the same breath we accept the death of democracy- for we accept that the decisions are not made for the people, but by a select few. We can of course contest that the power lies with this group but the decisions are made effectively in the interest of the majority, but I think it is obvious that this is becoming less and less true with each passing day – all you have to do is look around:
Profit margins are driven at the expense of school meals and basic welfare, whilst medical provision contracts are sold to friends of politicians and the NHS crumbles under the weight of political sabotage. Weapons are sold to fuel genocides in the name of a stable economy, and houses sit empty accruing interest while people sleep on the streets.
Maybe I’m naive, but I have faith in humanity enough that I trust they would not make many of these same decisions collectively, given the choice. I think we know better, or would like to think so. That is not to say that the majority always makes the right decision, but the will of the people should be taken into consideration, should be transparent, and the government should be held accountable to actioning or at least acknowledging the vox populi.
How do we solve it?
I suggest the following:
We spend a lot of time connected to apps on our phone- it is not hard to imagine a government supported app that provides us with the opportunity to be more involved in how the country is run on our behalf. We have the capability for channels of a more direct democracy.
People should be able to choose where a portion of their taxes are spent; locally and state-wide. Say for instance 40%, a taxpaying person is allowed to allocate areas where they would like this to be spent- personally, on a local level I would choose social programs for young people, public food gardens, and support clinics for substance abuse. On a state-wide level I would choose to have it spent on the NHS, public transport infrastructure, benefits for the disadvantaged, and sustainable green energy initiatives. I think most would at least agree on the point of the NHS- then why is it being slowly dissolved?
Someone else might want specific local roads maintained or repaired, more policing, or higher spending on defence. The government would have the remaining 60% to account for the checks and balances, the admin, etc. But essentially- they remain accountable and transparent on what the taxes are spent on, which seems only fair. We the people have to report on income and spending- why is the institution that we pay them to not yet obliged to respond in kind? There are some cases for purposes of national security where I’m sure there are exceptions where reporting is disadvantageous, but I am sure there are ways for these to remain a black box.
This is simple, achievable, and should be the expectation for any modern democratic state with the technological capability to implement it.
Now, a further extension of the idea:
We have witnessed in the past few years the introduction of LLMs or large language models, which could and should be used to efficiently map the will of the people and present it in a cogent and transparent manner. I will go into the technical specificities either later in this post or another time, but essentially it would act as a mediator between each individual and the government and each-other, conveying the distribution of the opinions of the population for a given referendum.
Currently, we tick a box once every four years based upon the empty promises made in the lead up to an election, and then watch the shit-show unfold until the next. Now, imagine they are held regularly or that people are equipped with the power to call referendums; each person is afforded the opportunity to give their view on the issue in all of the relative dimensions they see it. The opinions are collated in an ‘opinion space’ (collective embedding space), where they can be clustered depending on their sentiment and represented proportionally. This can be used to generate qualitative and quantitative summaries on the will of the people, and act as an adviser in the decision making process, generating a transparent report that is available for everyone. Again, I am not saying that the majority is always right, but the key point here is the transparency and the representation of the people in the political process.
And the the thing is- we already have systems like this in place: Cambridge Analytica was almost exactly this- all of our data in the form of nectar card spends, internet cookies, and the places we go are actively used to build psychological profiles of us as individuals and collectively that are used to raise prices of certain supermarket items, hone content & advertising algorithms, keep us glued to our devices, and influence the political landscape by appealing to our individual biases. The problem is that it’s a one-way mirror. Like with tax spending, the system sees us but we get no look at the system. In such a state control is maintained through division and controversy, catastrophes provide the next investment opportunity, and all of this can be conjured at the whims of those with access to data and the media.
But equally – a person should be allowed to have a voice and hear the voice of the people – see the collective mind of the people, make the collective unconscious conscious. I hope that it would help to bridge the cultural rifts and echo chambers we become entrenched in, it could help inform us on what other people think and feel and why- even if we don’t agree. And again- it would help to hold the government accountable for the decisions they are supposed to make on our behalf.
Of course, all of this is not a perfectly refined idea: security, the influence of the media on opinions, and the willingness of participation are all such potential obstacles to be considered, but I stand by the sentiment of moving towards a system of more transparent, direct, and representative governance. The current political system and the mechanism by which it is influenced in its decision making is moving further and further in a direction that is and will continue to be to the detriment of us all.
I implore you to think about what I’ve suggested and really consider it. Feel free to share, steal, dispute or revise the idea. We are living in transformative times, and there will be the opportunity for radical social change. It is important that we continue to look forward to how we might improve the world and ourselves for the benefit of us all.
Aethnen 
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