Esther Dyson on Electronic Voting (was: [IFWP] The ICANN Ruckus)

[Jay Fenello <Jay@Iperdome.com>]

At 02:18 PM 8/19/99 , Jay Fenello wrote:
>At 01:56 PM 8/19/99 , Kent Crispin wrote:
>>> By all appearances, these two sides have been equally matched, 
>>> with approximately the same number of people supporting each 
>>> of these positions.
>>> 
>>> Yet, over time, the technocracy has come to dominate ICANN.  
>>> ICANN has justified this by claims of wide-spread community 
>>> "consensus".  But if the public support has been approximately 
>>> equal, exactly how has this consensus been arrived at?
>>
>>As Ayn Rand was so fond of saying:  "Examine your assumptions."  The 
>>public support has not been "approximately equal".  In fact, the 
>>faction you describe as "establishing world-wide self-governance" is 
>>closer to a lunatic fringe than a faction.
>
>I would hardly call Larry Lessig, David Post, 
>Jamie Love, Milton Mueller and Ira Magaziner 
>part of the lunatic fringe.
>
>But then again, I guess there is only one way
>to know for certain -- establish some method of 
>measuring consensus, aka voting.
>
>Those who believe that this is about self
>governance *support* such voting.  
>
>You do *not*!
>
>So while you claim we are part of the lunatic 
>fringe, you also prevent any meaningful way to 
>measure our voice.
>
>Please explain your inconsistencies?


Ken is not the only one opposed to 
measuring consensus:


Esther Dyson wrote:
  http://www.ibm.com/services/newmark/mature.html
> Indeed, I am not so sure we should welcome the opportunity for
> electronic voting. That would make it easier for the elite to vote, and
> further disenfranchise those who don't have access. (You could make the
> same argument about on-line discussion, but the Net broadens the elite
> in the first case, whereas it cuts off the bottom of the pyramid in the
> second. These arguments are not a matter of principle but a reasonable
> approach based on the current and near-term availability of access.)


Respectfully,

Jay Fenello
President, Iperdome, Inc.    404-943-0524
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"All truth passes through three stages.  First, it is 
ridiculed, second it is violently opposed, and third, 
it is accepted as self-evident." (Arthur Schopenhauer)