• This is a political forum that is non-biased/non-partisan and treats every person's position on topics equally. This debate forum is not aligned to any political party. In today's politics, many ideas are split between and even within all the political parties. Often we find ourselves agreeing on one platform but some topics break our mold. We are here to discuss them in a civil political debate. If this is your first visit to our political forums, be sure to check out the RULES. Registering for debate politics is necessary before posting. Register today to participate - it's free!

Epistocracy vs Plutocracy

Xerographica

Banned
DP Veteran
Joined
Sep 16, 2010
Messages
2,071
Reaction score
163
Gender
Male
Political Leaning
Other
Just ran across a new word that I'd like to remember...epistocracy...so I figured the best way to at least facilitate being able to find it again would be to start a thread with the word in the title.

So if you had to choose between an epistocracy or a plutocracy...which one would you choose? Would there really be much difference between the two? Isn't a given that there's a strong correlation between education and income? If there isn't, then why bother spending so much money for an education?
 
Another word that I better write down so that I can find it again is kludgeocracy.
 
So if you had to choose between an epistocracy or a plutocracy...which one would you choose?

Let me see, "rule of the knowing" vs "rule of the rich"? I choose the first, of course. :peace
 
Just ran across a new word that I'd like to remember...epistocracy...so I figured the best way to at least facilitate being able to find it again would be to start a thread with the word in the title.

So if you had to choose between an epistocracy or a plutocracy...which one would you choose? Would there really be much difference between the two? Isn't a given that there's a strong correlation between education and income? If there isn't, then why bother spending so much money for an education?
To me there could really be no true epistocracy, the rule of the "knowers" as there is just too much to be known, too much that changes, too much that stays the same no matter the changes, deciphering all that is near impossible...for instance the idea of technocrats, which would be a subset of an epistocracy, is scary. That is what is many have attempted, say in economics, but they cannot know...and yet they must make decisions based on "knowing", but simply cannot know enough. How many diapers do we need to produce next year? Who knows or can know... we can take history and averages, but those are individual decisions being made by potential future parents... the most knowledgeable is the market itself, not the technocrat.

While I think it, perhaps, is a bad choice, I think I would choose the rule of the wealthy as they have proven they "know" how sufficient to negotiate real life situations in positive manners...at least here in free countries...not talking those who make money illicitly...those who produce ideas and products are who I am speaking of, and not the inheritors of wealth unless they are also using that to produce more ideas and products.

People who think they can "know" are scary...I think one can be generally wise, sapient, but cannot know...its like predicting the weather, there are just too many variables involved to actually know beyond a potentially "good" guess.
 
Just ran across a new word that I'd like to remember...epistocracy...so I figured the best way to at least facilitate being able to find it again would be to start a thread with the word in the title.

So if you had to choose between an epistocracy or a plutocracy...which one would you choose? Would there really be much difference between the two? Isn't a given that there's a strong correlation between education and income? If there isn't, then why bother spending so much money for an education?
To me there could really be no true epistocracy, the rule of the "knowers", as there is just too much to be known, too much that changes, too much that stays the same no matter the changes, deciphering all that is near impossible...for instance the idea of technocrats, which would be a subset of an epistocracy, is scary. That is what is many have attempted, say in economics, but they cannot know...and yet they must make decisions based on "knowing", but simply cannot know enough. How many diapers do we need to produce next year? Who knows or can know... we can take history and averages, but those are individual decisions being made by potential future parents... the most knowledgeable is the market itself, not the technocrat.

While I think it, perhaps, is a bad choice, I think I would choose the rule of the wealthy as they have proven they "know" how sufficient to negotiate real life situations in positive manners...at least here in free countries...not talking those who make money illicitly...those who produce ideas and products are who I am speaking of, and not the inheritors of wealth unless they are also using that to produce more ideas and products.

People who think they can "know" are scary...I think one can be generally wise, sapient, but cannot know...its like predicting the weather, there are just too many variables involved to actually know beyond a potentially "good" guess.
 
To me there could really be no true epistocracy, the rule of the "knowers" as there is just too much to be known, too much that changes, too much that stays the same no matter the changes, deciphering all that is near impossible...for instance the idea of technocrats, which would be a subset of an epistocracy, is scary. That is what is many have attempted, say in economics, but they cannot know...and yet they must make decisions based on "knowing", but simply cannot know enough. How many diapers do we need to produce next year? Who knows or can know... we can take history and averages, but those are individual decisions being made by potential future parents... the most knowledgeable is the market itself, not the technocrat.

While I think it, perhaps, is a bad choice, I think I would choose the rule of the wealthy as they have proven they "know" how sufficient to negotiate real life situations in positive manners...at least here in free countries...not talking those who make money illicitly...those who produce ideas and products are who I am speaking of, and not the inheritors of wealth unless they are also using that to produce more ideas and products.

People who think they can "know" are scary...I think one can be generally wise, sapient, but cannot know...its like predicting the weather, there are just too many variables involved to actually know beyond a potentially "good" guess.

I agree with your first paragraph whole-heartedly, however I am deeply disturbed and worried by both. The rule of the rich could very well mean the complete and total dismantling of the protections that workers have, from unions to the 40-hour work week and the process goes on from there.
 
Another word that I'd like to be able to remember is antifragility

This table I have in front of me will never get better if I bang on it. Use it and lose it. On the other hand, the human body gets better if it is exposed to the right amount of stressors. Of course, you have to define the stressor and the quantity of stress. But then that makes a difference between two worlds--the organic and the engineered. And now, if you can apply that to economic life--is economic life in the first or second category? If it's in the first category then we should have bailouts, top-down engineers, everything. If it's in the second category then sorry, you know, it doesn't work that way. - Nassim Taleb
 
Back
Top Bottom