Reference desk
A glossary that stays close
Ordinary explanations, with a route to the full concept.
ablation
a test that weakens or removes one modeled mechanism
Explore this concept →anti-capture
preventing someone from taking control of institutions for their own group
Explore this concept →archetypes
deliberately chosen types of possible world
Explore this concept →bifurcation
a split into separate societies
Explore this concept →centripetal
designed to encourage candidates to seek support across groups
Explore this concept →clone resistance
resistance to changing an election result by adding similar candidates
Explore this concept →cognitive sovereignty
a person’s authority over their own mind
Explore this concept →Condorcet
the election principle that a candidate beating every rival head to head should win
Explore this concept →consociational
power sharing that gives distinct groups a protected place in government
Explore this concept →consociationalism
government that shares power while protecting distinct groups
Explore this concept →constituencies
groups of people represented together
Explore this concept →constituency
a group of people represented together
Explore this concept →continuity state
approved saved information sufficient to restore the same civic continuity after interruption
Explore this concept →due process
fair legal procedures before the state takes action against someone
Explore this concept →endogenous agency
the ability to form and pursue goals from within one’s own decision process
Explore this concept →failure domain
systems that can all be disabled by the same cause
Explore this concept →failure domains
groups of systems that can be disabled by the same cause
Explore this concept →Functional Integration
working together by choice, combining strengths and sharing essential know-how
Explore this concept →interoperability
different systems being able to work together
Explore this concept →irreversible
unable to be undone
Explore this concept →Least Reversible Harm
giving special weight to preventing damage that cannot be repaired
Explore this concept →legitimacy floor
the minimum support a candidate must earn to qualify
Explore this concept →organic
biological
Explore this concept →pairwise comparison
comparing two candidates at a time
Explore this concept →personhood
being a person with interests and rights that matter in their own right
Explore this concept →polycentric governance
several centers of decision-making with their own responsibilities
Explore this concept →protected concurrence
approval that must include specified support from each protected group
Explore this concept →Schulze/Beatpath
a ranked-vote method for resolving cases where no candidate beats every other candidate head to head
Explore this concept →sovereignty
ultimate authority over oneself or a defined area of government
Explore this concept →subsidiarity
keeping decisions as local as practical
Explore this concept →synthetic person
a conscious person whose continuing mind is engineered or durably recoverable without a biological body
Explore this concept →synthetic persons
conscious persons whose continuing minds are engineered or durably recoverable without biological bodies
Explore this concept →trustees
temporary caretakers who must protect the absent group’s rights and return its authority
Explore this concept →trusteeship
temporary administration on behalf of people whose rights and authority must be preserved
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