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Re: Math and the electoral college's virtue
Posted:
Nov 13, 2000 12:35 AM
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On Mon, 13 Nov 2000 13:23:17 +1000, Gerry Myerson
<gerry@mpce.mq.edu.au> wrote:
>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)
I seem to recall it being Isaac Asimov.
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