Skepticism, Science & Pseudoscience

DetlefK

(16,584 posts)

14. It's not democracy per se.

Reply to muriel_volestrangler (Reply #12)

Mon Jul 20, 2015, 07:39 AM

Jul 2015

Democracy is when every citizen that meets criteria of maturity gets a vote.
If those criteria go beyond mere maturity and demand an explicit expertise in a narrow field of knowledge, that isn't democracy. (I can't remember the political term right now. Meritocracy?) It's more of a caste-system.

Caste-systems have their upsides, but they have the massive disadvantage of hampering social mobility and become prone to phenomena like corruption and dictatorship. The biggest disadvantage is that this lack of social mobility hampers the influx of ideas, leaving the society ill-preprared for new problems. (Like a bacteria-strain who dies out because it doesn't mutate fast enough.)

Edit history

Please sign in to view edit histories.

Recommendations

0 members have recommended this reply (displayed in chronological order):

17 replies

= new reply since forum marked as read

Highlight:

Once again, some DUers think science is a democratic proposition. [View all] HuckleB Jul 2015 OP

How Pluto is classified is as much a cultural exercise as a scientific one. Skinner Jul 2015 #1

You're wrong about the reason for the reclassification. LiberalAndProud Jul 2015 #2

I did not say it was arbitrary. Nor do I believe it to be arbitrary. Skinner Jul 2015 #3

So, you didn't acknowledge that other DUers thought it should be up for popular vote? HuckleB Jul 2015 #6

Pluto was reclassified as the largest object in the Kuiper Belt Warpy Jul 2015 #9

But it was up for vote - that's rather the point muriel_volestrangler Jul 2015 #13

That's rather like voting on evolution Warpy Jul 2015 #16

I dispute it's like the case of evolution muriel_volestrangler Jul 2015 #17

Post removed Post removed Jul 2015 #5

BTW, if you want to ban me, just do it. HuckleB Jul 2015 #7

Walt Starr did this so much better than you.... Little Star Jul 2015 #8

Why not hold democratic votes on other sciency stuff? Like abortion, vaccinations... DetlefK Jul 2015 #4

That's a weird argument you're putting forward there muriel_volestrangler Jul 2015 #10

But we need terms that are practical. DetlefK Jul 2015 #11

But wishing to use a definition that held for 75 years isn't 'pseudoscience' muriel_volestrangler Jul 2015 #12

It's not democracy per se. DetlefK Jul 2015 #14

But the decision isn't in the same category as the 'sciency stuff' you listed in #4 muriel_volestrangler Jul 2015 #15