Episode 154: The Democratic Delusion

Dear Fab,

Welcome back and thank you for the interesting topic, as usual.

Before jumping to the episode’s topic proper, let me say that you sold me on bouldering, I will try to find a place around here, I think it would be a fun exercise.

Now regarding the observation/theory that you are proposing, I can’t say that I have heard the same argument before, but it resonates with things that I believe in as well.

But, let me start with the topic of definitions: For me, any discussion or argument boils down to definitions. I’m not sure what is the accepted reference definition of “Democracy”.

Your point of view that Democracy refers specifically to a way to structure government (the original definition), and do not agree with the definition creep that seems to be happening.

For me personally, I would tolerate this, as long as we agree on what we are talking about.

But on the other hand, the interesting point that you raise is the reminder that consensus does not equal truth!

With which I totally agree.

We might expect that, provided some conditions, consensus would approach “Truth”. These conditions would include something like free access to all available data, and giving equal rights to participants. And from this comes the importance of a free press for democracies.

For me the sign of a good episode is how much it trigger thoughts, and for me several topics jumped to mind, but now, when writing this, I start to forget the context, to please bear with me with this apparently random thought (although I have re-listened to the episode again after writing the initial draft of this feedback, but still, I have gaps in my memory).

Speaking of Politics: there’s a card game that I like called “Illuminati”.

It’s a tongue-in-cheek model of politics, which I find quite interesting. And funny thing is that Mike Duncan (from the Revolutions Podcast + The History of Rome), said once that one of his favorite books is Illuminatus! which is the series behind the game.

Someone might find this interesting.

Thank you again, and keep the thought provoking topics coming.

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