A Visitor to the Future - 72 - Governance
Between hunting for a place to build my house, my Human lessons, meditation practice with Gatecrash, and sessions with my therapist, I was finding my days fairly busy - though not in the old-fashioned, stressful way. This was something different, a flurry of activity which I had complete control over. In many ways, it was empowering. I was setting the pace, not anyone else. If I wasn't particularly feeling what I had planned that day, I could easily change my mind - go for a walk, or check out a restaurant in Anchor which I hadn't been to yet. One thing seemed to never change - I was still very much motivated by my stomach.
I met Sarkona for lunch. They had been working on some car-related project that day - I could tell by the large splatters of engine oil across their jumpsuit. Though I'd not seen a repeat of the particularly messy Sarkona since that day on the Promise of Sol - their hands and face were clean. The place I'd chosen today claimed to specialize in delicacies from Europa, which I thought might suit Sarkona. The house special was some form of shredded vat-grown meat served with small-grained pink rice and a type of potato fritter. I'd been expecting something a little more exotic, but it was a mildly spiced, filling dish which left little else to be desired.
We exchanged a few pleasantries in Human before I hit a barrier in terms of what I could say, and switched back to English.
"You're doing super well, though!" said Sarkona, "What is Chisom saying about your progress, if you don't mind me asking?"
"She seems pleased," I said, "She was right, once you start to understand the rules of Human it seems easy to pick up. But I still find myself having to stop and take the time to translate things to English."
"I think that's only natural - I had the same issues with English at first. One of the key milestones for me was when I could think in English too - but it's different for everyone."
The served food took priority over conversation for a time, and I glanced around the restaurant between bites. It was a small, narrow space that used a booth design for the seating arrangement. There was a waiter attending to people's orders, who chatted with everyone in a friendly manner. Though the actual serving of food was done by drones. This restaurant took pride in its three Europa-native cooks, who you could see happily working away behind a transparent screen.
"I did actually have something I've been meaning to bring up," said Sarkona after we finished the last bites of our food, "I've sort of hinted at it in the past, but I figured you needed the full picture."
I stared at Sarkona, mindful of the revelation at Antonia's house just a few short weeks ago. They seemed to pick up on my concern.
"Nothing like that!" they said quickly, "It's just we haven't really talked about how the overall government works. I thought I'd better brief you on it in case you wanted to get involved."
I pushed my plate aside and smiled, "I have been a bit curious about it," I said. A drone quickly came by and hooked itself around the plate, taking it off into a back area.
"The great thing is - there hasn't been much of a rush to learn about this," continued Sarkona, "Because if anything affected you, the Consortium would have told you. Then I would have told you earlier. Here, I brought something with me to help."
They placed the small, round disc projector that I'd seen previously on the table. A large page flickered into view, showing a number of issues of the day. The top three were titled Consortium Position on Non-Thinking Animals, Non-Auditable Defence Infrastructure, and Europa Excavation Project. They were shaded different colours, which presumably signified something about their status.
"This is my issue display - the items which are most important to me at the moment are at the top. Anyone can submit an issue for consideration. Here, let me show you this one."
Sarkona tapped the Non-Auditable Defence Infrastructure issue and a fuller display appeared, dense with text. A summary was visible at the top of the sheet which read the following:
Scope: All citizens of the Consortium
A coalition of Strategic Orgs within the Consortium have submitted this issue with the intent of consulting with all interested Consortium citizens. Auditability is a key right of all Consortium citizens, but poses a problem when considering the long-term problem of overall defence. Though the Consortium has yet to identify any evidence of intelligent life of non-Sol origin, common scientific consensus is that there does exist a possibility, however slight, of intelligent life which may be hostile to the Consortium. This has been the driving force behind the creation and operation of several Strategic Orgs. This proposal discusses the possibility of the creation of non-auditable, hidden defences and redundant infrastructure throughout the Sol system, designed to remain hidden from both external observers and Consortium citizens, and alternative controls which could be employed in the absence of a right to audit.
There were other sections too, including a suggest knowledgebase and reading list for participation, the names of Auditors who had reviewed the proposal for fairness, and even a small animation which depicted the concepts at hand in a more audio-visual format.
"This one is just a proposal - a discussion of a possible issue, but any erosion of the right to audit is very unlikely to get approval from anyone but the Strategic Orgs," said Sarkona, "The right to audit is just too fundamental. But here's the important part - see here, where it says scope? The scope of an issue states who it affects, and therefore who needs to have a say in how this is resolved."
"In a vote?" I asked.
"Sometimes, but not always!" said Sarkona, "So there actually isn't an agreed word in English that best describes the Consortium, but most English speakers use the phrase negotiocracy. At a very high level, this is how it works - everyone in scope of a particular issue gets the opportunity to collaborate on its resolution. The Consortium will facilitate communication between them all, identify any objections, and notify any Arbiters where arbitration might be useful. It is after all options have been explored and all the nuances of what is being discussed and debated that those in scope then attempt to resolve the issue. That might involve a vote, but preferably not."
"Preferably not? What do you mean?"
Sarkona conjured a blank page on the projection, quickly displaying a pie chart with a series of gestures. It was split roughly into two parts - one of three-quarters in green, and one of a single quarter in red. "A vote only captures the interests of the majority of voters. But the fact is, everyone's opinion is important. As a ridiculous example, imagine a scenario in which some people wanted to build a nature reserve on the site of your house. They might outnumber you, but your interest is equally as important. Maybe your house has stood on that site for hundreds of years, and you don't want to move. You being outvoted isn't a good enough reason to uproot you unless all other options are exhausted first. Therefore, all involved parties in scope negotiate. A vote only satisfies the majority."
"So they might build the nature reserve elsewhere, or try and build the reserve around your house, something like that?"
"Yes. It is amazing how many solutions to problems exist when resources aren't an issue. As another example, let's imagine you want to build a rally track near a town, but some residents don't like the idea of the noise. If it were a simple yes or no vote, that ignores possible solutions that would satisfy both parties - like building the track underground and soundproofing it, or using much quieter electric vehicles instead of noisy vintage ones. Issues are rarely as simple as yes or no - that's what is identified though the process."
"And if they still couldn't agree?"
"Only then would people fall back on the vote. But it is a last resort. It is true that the majority of large-scale issues do end in votes - but the objective is to make the agreed upon solution the best one for all parties."
"I'm beginning to see why Arbiters are so important," I said. In a way the vote seemed a lot like the Default of the Consortium's decision-making process. A fall-back in case another solution couldn't be reached.
Sarkona nodded. "There's another element to the voting process which is critical to bring up, too - abstaining. A lot of the governments in your time were trying to get as many people to vote as possible. In the Consortium, you're only encouraged to vote if you actually have knowledge about the subject being voted upon, or have an interest in the result one way or the other."
"Wait, so you don't want everyone to vote?" I said.
"That's right. Imagine if an issue came up around a certain type of rocket propellant. We'd only want experts in that field to contribute to the discussion. Most people wouldn't know enough about it to come to a decision. There's also a voting category which requires the issue to be re-raised at a later date if no-one knows enough about the subject. The overall process might seem unfamiliar to you at first, but it's taught quite extensively as part of the education system - if you don't know something, don't guess randomly. Either do more research or consult with someone who does know!"