That seems like Moldbug’s opinion, that participatory republics are fundamentally incapable of standards of behavior or problem-solving and therefore wanting standards pushes you inexorably kingwards, which I’ve argued against elsewhere.
I don’t know how to reconcile that with your previous comment, which seemed to say that the expectation that people can explain and justify their public actions is antidemocratic and leads to kings.
Moldbug thinks the choice is between first-best (a king with high standards) and second-best (a democracy with low standards). I think, like in many other things, first-best here is not a real option. The real choice is between second-best (a democracy with low standards) and third-best (an unaccountable king with even lower standards—selfish, a believer in wrong theories, a fuckup and so on). This is why Churchill said that “democracy is the worst form of government except for all those other forms”.
That seems like Moldbug’s opinion, that participatory republics are fundamentally incapable of standards of behavior or problem-solving and therefore wanting standards pushes you inexorably kingwards, which I’ve argued against elsewhere.
I think participatory leads to better standards than having a king. In general my views are opposite of Moldbug’s on everything.
I don’t know how to reconcile that with your previous comment, which seemed to say that the expectation that people can explain and justify their public actions is antidemocratic and leads to kings.
Moldbug thinks the choice is between first-best (a king with high standards) and second-best (a democracy with low standards). I think, like in many other things, first-best here is not a real option. The real choice is between second-best (a democracy with low standards) and third-best (an unaccountable king with even lower standards—selfish, a believer in wrong theories, a fuckup and so on). This is why Churchill said that “democracy is the worst form of government except for all those other forms”.
Again I don’t know how to reconcile that with what you said before. Did you change your mind, or did I misunderstand you?