This Government Sucks, Let's Make a New One

I started by examining the potential of wikis to create, either from scratch or through modification of an existing sytem, a system of government. Over the weekend it struck me that wikis (or a system similar to Slashdot) might be a good way to come up with a government that was truly created by the people, voting on the system as it's being created and suggesting changes that are immediately peer-reviewed by everyone. I imagined a clear path would naturally emerge that would please most of the people most of the time. This kind of contradicts my generally held opinion that the problem with democracies can all be traced back to the voters. Please note that I've never, ever, taken a poli-sci course, so if it seems like I'm shockingly ignorant, it's because I am.

So I'm poking around in wiki-land, getting a feel for the place, and I come across Active Listening. It's an approach to conversations that encourages truly devoting yourself to listening to what your partner/opponent/whatever is saying. That may seem silly (of *course* you're listening to what people say), but people choose to listen in very different ways. And so but anyway, this led me to this article on Dialogic Listening, which in my opinion improves on the Active Listening idea. The conversation is seen as a cooperative effort.

Just thought it made for some interesting reading. YMMV. =)



.