7 ms·

It would be amazing if a council with diverse viewpoints could even sit together without killing each other in this day and age. Does this exist anywhere?

h2odragon 4y ago
Surprisingly enough, the need for such things has been perceived and addressed before. A recent method that's widely used for organizing such things is: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert%27s_Rules_of_Order https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert%27s_Rules_of_Order
wslack 4y ago
Yes, and it's been written up. It doesn't have a moderating effect, at least on its own: https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2019/10/02/upshot/these-526-voters-represent-america.html https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2019/10/02/upshot/these-... (It was covered by the Times but paid for by a non-partisan group, with researchers participating)
- saurik 4y ago
  The article you linked seems to show that it did, in fact, have a moderating effect? > NORC surveyed the group before the conference, and again on the same questions at the end; the results were compared with a similar panel of voters who did not get an intense dose of deliberative democracy in the interim. Voters at the event on both the left and the right appeared to edge toward the center. Democratic support receded for a $15 federal minimum wage and for “Medicare for all”; Republican support grew for rejoining the Paris climate agreement and for protecting from deportation immigrants brought to the United States as children.
- dereg 4y ago
  526 people is not what I’d consider a “council”. That’s the size of a large high school graduating class.
rootusrootus 4y ago
In the real world, sure. The Internet would have us believe that civil war is imminent. We need to stop letting the 1% of people who bother to post online drive our national dialog. We have put the crazies in charge of the asylum.
- jstummbillig 4y ago
  > In the real world, sure. Can you point at one? A council with "widely diverse viewpoints" that is actually an effective, tie-braking decision maker?
  - SpicyLemonZest 4y ago
    Supreme Court justices, despite their huge partisan differences and passionate disagreements on many individual cases, often talk about how they personally enjoy working with each other. My impression is that this is true of many Congressional committees as well, although it's less legible there because most congressmembers find it politically advantageous to talk about how mad they are at the other party.
    - UncleOxidant 4y ago
      There's a huge amount of history there, though. It didn't just get formed this week. It's got some members who have been on the court since the early 90s. Some since the late 90s and others in the aughts. The SCOTUS has long-lived institutional memory and norms of behavior. It's members also tend to become somewhat isolated from what's going on in the culture outside.
      - jjk166 4y ago
        Every institution was new at some point.
  - selwynii 4y ago
    Sure. The Oversight Board. Facebook did exactly this years ago. oversightboard.com/decisions
mjr00 4y ago
Yes, this is how social interaction in the real world, or even smaller online communities, has worked for ages. It's only on pseudonymous mega-sites like Twitter, Reddit and HN where jumping down people's throats for having an opposing viewpoint is even a thing.
- jonathankoren 4y ago
  You know, there are best practices for moderating discussions. https://coralproject.net/blog/five-myths-of-community-design-day-one/ https://coralproject.net/blog/five-myths-of-community-design...
- nemo44x 4y ago
  Have you been anywhere near a university lately? There’s a contingent of super militant students, supported by certain faculty, that spend their time policing who is allowed to have a “platform” and what’s acceptable speech.
- colinmhayes 4y ago
  Facebook seems to be the most politically divisive to me and it's not pseudonymous.
- wahnfrieden 4y ago
  the hypothesis that attaching real names to posts improves civility is over ten years out of date
  - mjr00 4y ago
    "With real names" is not the same as "in the real world." There is a massive difference between me seeing a stranger's real name next to a Facebook post about how abortion is evil, and me having a conversation with a good friend of 10 years, or my mom, and it comes up that they're pro-life. We might have a long debate, but in the end, they're still my friend or family.
- HelloMcFly 4y ago
  Boy oh boy, I should take you to some Board of Education meetings.
pjkundert 4y ago
In the real world, sane people have diverse opinions and are civil all the time. It's the politicians and similar race-baiters who benefit from convincing citizens that they should hate eachother.
themagician 4y ago
Maybe that's part of the plan. They can livestream the council meetings on Twitter's new streaming service. That's their first show. Every season starts in the boardroom but ends on Twitter Island. It's a real life hybrid of The Hunger Games and Squid Game. The future of entertainment is a modern twist on old school gladiators. Elon Musk is our Augustus.
mikkergp 4y ago
Diverse is pretty vague, maybe it’s just Elon and not Elon.

h2odragon 4y ago

Surprisingly enough, the need for such things has been perceived and addressed before. A recent method that's widely used for organizing such things is: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert%27s_Rules_of_Order https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert%27s_Rules_of_Order

wslack 4y ago

Yes, and it's been written up. It doesn't have a moderating effect, at least on its own: https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2019/10/02/upshot/these-526-voters-represent-america.html https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2019/10/02/upshot/these-... (It was covered by the Times but paid for by a non-partisan group, with researchers participating)

saurik 4y ago
The article you linked seems to show that it did, in fact, have a moderating effect? > NORC surveyed the group before the conference, and again on the same questions at the end; the results were compared with a similar panel of voters who did not get an intense dose of deliberative democracy in the interim. Voters at the event on both the left and the right appeared to edge toward the center. Democratic support receded for a $15 federal minimum wage and for “Medicare for all”; Republican support grew for rejoining the Paris climate agreement and for protecting from deportation immigrants brought to the United States as children.
dereg 4y ago
526 people is not what I’d consider a “council”. That’s the size of a large high school graduating class.

rootusrootus 4y ago

In the real world, sure. The Internet would have us believe that civil war is imminent. We need to stop letting the 1% of people who bother to post online drive our national dialog. We have put the crazies in charge of the asylum.

jstummbillig 4y ago
> In the real world, sure. Can you point at one? A council with "widely diverse viewpoints" that is actually an effective, tie-braking decision maker?
- SpicyLemonZest 4y ago
  Supreme Court justices, despite their huge partisan differences and passionate disagreements on many individual cases, often talk about how they personally enjoy working with each other. My impression is that this is true of many Congressional committees as well, although it's less legible there because most congressmembers find it politically advantageous to talk about how mad they are at the other party.
  - UncleOxidant 4y ago
    There's a huge amount of history there, though. It didn't just get formed this week. It's got some members who have been on the court since the early 90s. Some since the late 90s and others in the aughts. The SCOTUS has long-lived institutional memory and norms of behavior. It's members also tend to become somewhat isolated from what's going on in the culture outside.
    - jjk166 4y ago
      Every institution was new at some point.
- selwynii 4y ago
  Sure. The Oversight Board. Facebook did exactly this years ago. oversightboard.com/decisions

mjr00 4y ago

Yes, this is how social interaction in the real world, or even smaller online communities, has worked for ages. It's only on pseudonymous mega-sites like Twitter, Reddit and HN where jumping down people's throats for having an opposing viewpoint is even a thing.

jonathankoren 4y ago
You know, there are best practices for moderating discussions. https://coralproject.net/blog/five-myths-of-community-design-day-one/ https://coralproject.net/blog/five-myths-of-community-design...
nemo44x 4y ago
Have you been anywhere near a university lately? There’s a contingent of super militant students, supported by certain faculty, that spend their time policing who is allowed to have a “platform” and what’s acceptable speech.
colinmhayes 4y ago
Facebook seems to be the most politically divisive to me and it's not pseudonymous.
wahnfrieden 4y ago
the hypothesis that attaching real names to posts improves civility is over ten years out of date
- mjr00 4y ago
  "With real names" is not the same as "in the real world." There is a massive difference between me seeing a stranger's real name next to a Facebook post about how abortion is evil, and me having a conversation with a good friend of 10 years, or my mom, and it comes up that they're pro-life. We might have a long debate, but in the end, they're still my friend or family.
HelloMcFly 4y ago
Boy oh boy, I should take you to some Board of Education meetings.

pjkundert 4y ago

In the real world, sane people have diverse opinions and are civil all the time. It's the politicians and similar race-baiters who benefit from convincing citizens that they should hate eachother.

themagician 4y ago

Maybe that's part of the plan. They can livestream the council meetings on Twitter's new streaming service. That's their first show. Every season starts in the boardroom but ends on Twitter Island. It's a real life hybrid of The Hunger Games and Squid Game. The future of entertainment is a modern twist on old school gladiators. Elon Musk is our Augustus.

mikkergp 4y ago

Diverse is pretty vague, maybe it’s just Elon and not Elon.