Hiroshi Mukaide（向出博）Time Traveler

The Era of Democracy: The Decline of Decision-Making through Discussion and Majority Rule

2023-08-30

Watching countries around the world recently, I had a thought.

"The era of democracy where things are decided through discussion and majority rule might be coming to an end."

In the current "information society," there's hardly any difference in the amount of information between those who consider themselves leaders and the citizens who choose those leaders.

To put it extremely, it has become an age where almost anyone can possess the ability to be a leader.

Especially when looking at Japan's parliament members, it seems the citizens choosing the representatives might be more competent.

After all, there are "hereditary politicians" who continue family legacies, leaving one bewildered.

For them, politics is not for the nation but just a family business.

Yet, Japan's prime minister is often the successor of seasoned politicians under the "hereditary democratic system."

Let's return to the topic.

The principle of "majority rule" where a result decided by a simple majority of 51% to 49% should be followed by everyone might become a "remnant of the past" in the near future.

In the current context where individual knowledge and information have increased and values have diversified, forcing the defeated 49% to obey the victorious 51% through "democracy by majority rule" can seem like a form of "rule by fear" from some perspectives.

"Majority rule is not a path to oppression."

Even if one says things like groups that win by majority should not oppress those that lose, ultimately it's a "theory of exclusion."

The defeated 49% might have to create a world for themselves to escape discrimination or bullying from the victorious 51%, as humans unfortunately aren't all that tolerant.

Thinking this way, democracy is quite a brutal political system.

The era when democracy was all-powerful is long gone.

In today's information society, mastering the internet allows us to connect with the world in an instant, transcending nations and organizations.

For us, gods, heroes, and leaders are only "protagonists in stories."

The "real world's protagonists" are us.

Nevertheless, we, the protagonists, are being manipulated by the elite chosen through a democracy that's reaching its end.

We must break away from this world and create a future where we can fulfill our dreams and hopes.

Various systems and structures in the real world are based on classical societies from long before the information age.

With nothing but flaws, the way things are now won't likely lead us to achieve our dreams and hopes.

At its core, the classical society's systems and structures are built around humans as "beings."

While humans are indeed animals, systems and structures that prioritize appearance and behavior aren't useful in an information society.

Remember the pandemic, the shift to remote work highlighted the immense gap between the classical society and the information society.

This applies to politics and economics as well.

Leaders and representatives like "Prime Minister" or "CEO," who are nothing more than "lucky elderly people who won the lottery," having authority over citizens or employees, is incredibly unproductive.

In today's information society, having all information and authority converge in one "representative" is out of touch with the times.

Especially with the elderly "representatives" of the aging society who exploit their authority and consume the dreams of the youth, they are akin to "vampires sucking the lifeblood."

Some "honorable representatives" might exist, but even so, if you're going to concentrate all authority in a single person, you should also concentrate all responsibility in that person.

Unfortunately, I've never come across such an example.

In any case, sooner or later, there won't be any representatives or assemblies for national or local politics, CEOs for corporations, or decision-making bodies for organizations.

In the information society, every individual can instantly transmit their thoughts and ideas to the global multitude.

As robots and artificial intelligence (AI) advance and we approach the "Singularity," there will be no need to entrust our lives to others.

At that time, words like "delegation" or "representation" will become obsolete.

If they do remain, the recipient of "delegation" will be "AI" instead of a "human."

If clear and unambiguous exchange of intent and appropriate feedback can be achieved, there will be no need to entrust our lives or our dreams to "other humans."

In that case, concepts like democracy might become unnecessary.