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Re: Math and the electoral college's virtue
Posted:
Nov 12, 2000 10:23 PM
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In article <8uhgqv$b80$1@pegasus.csx.cam.ac.uk>, "Dan Goodman"
<dog@fcbobDOTdemon.co.uk> wrote:
> I came up with an interesting idea which I haven't really had much
> time to play with yet, the idea of "random democracy". Rather than
> choosing the president (or whatever) based on who has the most votes
> (be they electoral college or individual votes), you get everyone to
> vote, and then you randomly (uniformly) select an individual vote
> from all the votes cast and make the decision based solely on that.
Many years ago someone wrote a short story based on a similar idea.
The premise was that some day computers would be so good at
modeling social behavior that they would be able to select the one
American who most closely models the entire electorate; then, by
asking that one elector a number of questions about his or her
opinions on various matters the computer would be able to decide
whom the country really wanted to be the next President.
The story must go back at least 35 years, maybe even 45 - wish I
could remember the title, who wrote it, ....
Gerry Myerson (gerry@mpce.mq.edu.au)
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