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A recent article on HN made me realise that the U.S. might be on the right track for fixing this. The article was called Game Theory's Cure For Corruption Makes

A recent article on HN made me realise that the U.S. might be on the right track for fixing this. The article was called Game Theory's Cure For Corruption Makes Us All Cops [0]. The solution is in your pocket. Imagine a city where police commit blatant traffic violations and never ticket one another. The authorities could decrease power inequalities by developing an online system in which all citizens are able to anonymously report dangerous drivers. Anyone who received too many independent reports would be investigated – police included. This sounds almost laughably simple, and yet the model indicates that it ought to do the trick. It is, after all, essentially the same system used by many online communities. [0] http://aeon.co/magazine/society/game-theorys-cure-for-corruption-make-us-all-cops/ http://aeon.co/magazine/society/game-theorys-cure-for-corrup...

btown 11y ago
The article mentions but does not address the point of altruism. Nobody wants to be a stool pigeon singing to the police on someone they know, even if it's anonymous. The result is that the set of enforced laws is a strict subset of the set of laws that the majority of people would find reasonable. That's why we create police forces in the first place- to be our better selves. The war on black America needs to end, but simply democratizing enforcement isn't the way to do it.
- asanagi 11y ago
  But if the lawmakers are representatives of the people, why are there laws the people find unreasonable?
- triangleman 11y ago
  asanagi, you are unfortunately "hellbanned", which means no one can see your post unless they are logged in and have "showdead" turned on.
zyx321 11y ago
>It is, after all, essentially the same system used by many online communities. Of course what actually happens if you report a moderator (or even just a friend of a moderator) is that the report will get thrown out on a technicality, and then you'll get banned over a minor infraction you may or may not have committed half a year ago. PS: Big shout-out to all my buddies who are Not Here To Build An Encyclopedia.

btown 11y ago

The article mentions but does not address the point of altruism. Nobody wants to be a stool pigeon singing to the police on someone they know, even if it's anonymous. The result is that the set of enforced laws is a strict subset of the set of laws that the majority of people would find reasonable. That's why we create police forces in the first place- to be our better selves. The war on black America needs to end, but simply democratizing enforcement isn't the way to do it.

asanagi 11y ago
But if the lawmakers are representatives of the people, why are there laws the people find unreasonable?
triangleman 11y ago
asanagi, you are unfortunately "hellbanned", which means no one can see your post unless they are logged in and have "showdead" turned on.

zyx321 11y ago

>It is, after all, essentially the same system used by many online communities. Of course what actually happens if you report a moderator (or even just a friend of a moderator) is that the report will get thrown out on a technicality, and then you'll get banned over a minor infraction you may or may not have committed half a year ago. PS: Big shout-out to all my buddies who are Not Here To Build An Encyclopedia.