Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!uwm.edu!ux1.cso.uiuc.edu!crest.crhc.uiuc.edu!conte
From: conte@crest.crhc.uiuc.edu (Tom Conte)
Newsgroups: comp.org.eff.talk
Subject: Re: Let's get moving gang!!!
Keywords: Implementation, Network Novelties
Message-ID: <1990Aug29.173134.9202@ux1.cso.uiuc.edu>
Date: 29 Aug 90 17:31:34 GMT
References: <7686@helios.TAMU.EDU> <737@primerd.PRIME.COM> <1990Aug28.195810.22359@ux1.cso.uiuc.edu> <739@primerd.PRIME.COM>
Sender: usenet@ux1.cso.uiuc.edu (News)
Reply-To: conte@crest.crhc.uiuc.edu (Tom Conte)
Organization: University of Illinois at Urbana
Lines: 76

In article <739@primerd.PRIME.COM>, milgr@teapot.prime.COM (Marc
Milgram) writes:
> In article <1990Aug28.195810.22359@ux1.cso.uiuc.edu>,
> conte@crest.crhc.uiuc.edu (Tom Conte) writes:
> |>Just an aside, but _Hyperion_ by Dan Simmons suggests a merged
> media/electronic
> |>electorate that has one vote in the senate, which is aparently
> composed of one ...
> I am a little confused with how this either fits in with the current US
> governmental
> structure.
> 
> [Then lots of stuff describing the US Congress to me- thanks.]

First off, Simmons' _Hyperion_ is a novel and not a political science
treatment of technology applied to the US.  The government he describes
is in no way related to the US'.  It is semi-corporate (the head is the
`CEO') and has one house in its congress a'la parliamentary systems.
The members of this `senate' are geographically and not population-based
(hence my comparision to the US Senate).

> ... creating a new "Electronic State", how would people become members of
> this new electorate
> -- as they would still supposedly reside within another state.  I assume
> if this
> was what Mr. Simmons suggested, the "Electronic State" would still have
> just two votes,
> but each of the members of this state would cast a fraction of a vote,
> or vote on the vote.

Pretty close.  One can have some sway in the government my participating
in the AllThing.  Otherwise, the elected officials still represent you.
This is a `representation for the lazy' hybrid approach.

> 
> In the House of representatives, each representative represents
> approxamitely the same
> number of constituents.  This branch of the congress sounds a little
> more similar to
> Dan Simmons' suggestion.
> 
No, the AllThing wouldn't work in the House because the weight of its vote
would not be fixed but rather dependent on how many individuals are currently
`tuned in' to it.  How could one pedal influence when the leverage voting power
of every member can be reduced or eliminated if the number of individuals who
chose to tune in this week increases the AllThing's weight?

Then again, reducing leveraging and influence bartering might be a
*good* thing.

> Or was he suggesting a new branch of congress, or a replacement for all
> or part of the
> congress?  Changing the constitution to allow an Electronic House of
> congress would
> be real tough.  Getting a Senator or Representative to vote according
to how an
> electronic electorate wishes him to vote sounds much simpler.

Again, it was a *novel*.  He didn't even mention the US, it was all fiction.
Interesting mind candy, however.

> 
> |>------
> |>Tom Conte	  Center for Reliable and High-Performance Computing
> |> conte@uiuc.edu   University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, Illinois
> |>  Bachelor tip #48: used gym socks make great no-pest strips!
>                                               
> 
> Marc Milgram     Software Engineer, Product Integrity Group, Prime Computer
> milgr@teapot.prime.com
>   My views are my own.

------
Tom Conte	  Center for Reliable and High-Performance Computing
 conte@uiuc.edu   University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, Illinois
  Bachelor tip #48: used gym socks make great no-pest strips!