Step 15; Minerva Phase 3: MDDS & Legislative Body

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The Legislative body, which largely relates to accepting or denying policy change, is comprised of the entire population of Augury, facilitated by the MDDS. The underlying principle is that the operation of Augury, from the Judicial branch to the Executive, is ultimately under the control of its population. The Judicial and Executive branches exist to serve the best interest of the population and optimize the city.

 

Inspired by e-voting in Estonia, the Moderated Direct Democracy System (MDDS) is an internet-based system that makes voting as accessible as possible. The MDDS can be accessed by any citizen’s personal device with an internet connection via a website or application, connecting users with their registered data with three-factor verification. This system operates in close proximity to all other internet-based municipal networking managed by Minerva and Apollo. This system removes the need for representative-based democracy and representative politicians. Citizens may undertake law-making, policy formation, and regulation enforcement. 

 

Any proposed change in policy (typically proposed by a head of an Executive or Judicial branch) must be put to a popular vote, and all citizens should have until a specified deadline to cast their vote. Simpler policies will have shorter deadlines than greater changes, to allow voters time to explore related data to consider consequences and alternatives. If a citizen wants to propose a change in policy or law, they could start a petition—with enough signatures, that proposal could be put to city-wide vote. Some decisions which are relevant to the entire city can be made unilaterally based on qualified experience—the best material to use for piping, or the best method of growing certain crops—but decisions which ultimately come down to a judgment call should be made by informed democracy of the entire affected population.

 

Furthermore, the MDDS could be able to enforce conditions to balance the fairness of voting conditions (which would be plainly disclaimed) including but not limited to the following examples.

 

The MDDS may:

 

• Compensate the weight of individual votes for factors such as expertise or conflict of interest.

 

• Not make some votes available to the entire population if the issue is only relevant to certain departments or demographics.

 

• Require voters to pass a comprehension quiz before voting on policy changes with a high estimated impact, as well as offer relevant background information concerning the issue.

 

• Offer a mandatory multiple-choice quiz after voting "no" on a policy change to explain their choice and request an (optional) suggested alternative for the intended goal (typically only on smaller changes)

 

The MDDS technicians operate as a sub-department of Minerva to design these vote modifiers and are constantly optimizing the system to be more effective and ensure any modifiers do not cause significant bias. The MDDS department itself is also open to constructive criticism by the general population, and all vote modifiers are clearly declared at the time of the vote and recorded for later reference. Certain conditions for designing votes will be universally required for all proposed policy changes, such as the following:

 

Proposed policy changes must:

 

• also clearly declare the intended effect.

 

• declare the department that proposed them.

 

• be presented for vote individually. No votes may ever be cast to apply to multiple policy changes at once.

 

• be written in language simple enough for the average citizen to understand, and phrased as simply and concisely as possible. The MDDS department will have dedicated plain-speak auditors to ensure this.

 

The above conditions also apply to elected officials. While most officials are appointed by the direct superior to the position, the superior must choose at least three qualified candidates for the position and then allow citizens to vote for their preferred candidate through the MDDS. For example: if the city needed to replace the head of the Bia department, the City manager would choose at least three candidates who are willing to accept the position, have sufficient experience in electrical engineering or a related field, etc. These candidates would then 'campaign' by publicly exhibiting their qualifications in documentation not unlike a resume. Citizens would then have a certain period of time to vote for their preferred candidate, and current members of the Bia department would have a higher weighted vote compared to other citizens. The MDDS would then calculate the winner by popular vote and assign their role as head of Bia.

 

All votes, results, and contextual information would automatically be time-stamped and stored along with a current record of municipal Augury law by Apollo in a public change-tracking database repository similar to Git. Will this system be perfect and immune to hacking or fraud? Of course not—what system is? But I don’t believe it will be especially prone, and it will make democracy more accessible and accountable than ever.

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National Media Platform

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A community as technology-centered as Augury needs a centralized media platform. This platform will serve many purposes, including but not limited to:

 

• A portal for interacting with the MDDS

• A portal for dealing with government files such as permits, licenses, registrations, etc.

• A social media platform/forum for self expression and connecting with other citizens

• A city-wide message board for events, announcements, etc.

• A news outlet.

 

Privacy on this platform is paramount. Citizens must feel safe on this platform, with no concern that their data is being mined and sold. The platform should be a service provided to citizens, totally devoid of advertising except from posts made by local businesses on their own page to their followers. It should never be used to analyze the habits or preferences of citizens for any reason except for investigating a crime. That being said, the platform should also not be anonymous—users must feel accountable for their actions online. The platform should also employ no optimization algorithms towards content prioritization, and should actively avoid the tactics used to make social media addictive.

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Digital Fiat Currency

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One of the requirements for a state’s sovereignty is possession of an independent currency. Augury's economy should use a centralized digital fiat currency called Aurichalcum (referred to as copper or coppers for short), the blockchain data for which will be stored on Apollo servers, but moderated and monitored by Minerva algorithms with as little human interaction as possible. Minerva systems will keep an overview of Aurichalcum units and their ownership and define whether new units can be created. If new units can be created, Minerva defines the circumstances of their origin and how to determine the ownership of these new units. If Minerva detects any issues, significant value fluctuations, or problematic trends, it will alert a human technician. Though Minerva tracks the movement of Aurichalcum movements, it would be illegal for a human technician to track exchanges of currency between individuals without a Judicial warrant. Human economists should monitor this system to ensure economic health as a redundancy, especially for the first decade or so until the Minerva algorithms demonstrate effectiveness.

 

Citizens should be issued an ID card with a secure RFID chip which can be used as identification, a debit/credit card, passkey for certain doors, and redemption for online purchases or tickets, and certain perks afforded to citizens (for example, consider certain passageways unlockable only to citizens so they can avoid large crowds and heavy traffic from tourism). Uses of this card can be tracked only with a court order to protect privacy. The same credentials could also pair with a QR code loaded on their phone from their online government account. Of course, a fraud agency in Minerva to address identity theft would be necessary.