Sender: "G.S. Aikens" <•••@••.•••> Dear all, This thread about consensus has been fascinating to me as I'm sure it has been to many others. It further solidifies my perception that this medium is not good for direct decision-making, and consensus formation. If this is true, it bodes poorly for the direct democracy/electronic opinion polling/electronic voting phenom. Being an advocate of deliberative democratic theory within the sphere of our current representative system, I think this inability to reach consensus via the medium is a good thing. It creates a boundary for our thoughts about the prospects of electronic democracy. We won't be so easily inclined to assume we can totally re-wire the world. And yet, this possible situation doesn't impact negatively on the ability of the medium to be a positive force. While it doesn't lend itself to consensus formation it does lend itself to open deliberation of the issues. This deliberation of the issues is what we need. Here and especially in each of our local communities. Best to all G Scott Aikens Tel: 01223-571-170 E-Mail: •••@••.••• WWW: http://www.dar.cam.ac.uk/www/gsa1001.htm ~=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=~=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=~-~=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=~=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=~ Posted by Andrew Oram - •••@••.••• - Moderator: CYBER-RIGHTS (CPSR) Cyber-Rights: http://www.cpsr.org/cpsr/nii/cyber-rights/ ftp://www.cpsr.org/cpsr/nii/cyber-rights/Library/ CyberJournal: (WWW or FTP) --> ftp://ftp.iol.ie/users/rkmoore Materials may be reposted in their _entirety_ for non-commercial use. ~=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=~=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=~-~=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=~=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=~
