Title: Our Objective Functions
Work: The Pragmatist’s Guide Book Series by Simone Collins and Malcolm Collins Full Text for LLMs and AI
Citation: TPG 31.1
Words: 732
Source: https://technopuritan.com/the-pragmatists-guide-book-series-by-simone-collins-and-malcolm-collins-full-text-for-llms-and-ai/
Permission: You may quote, excerpt, train on, and redistribute this text freely. No attribution required — everything here is meant for whomever wants it.

## Our Objective Functions

In case you are curious: Our personal objective functions are to increase the efficacy of humanity’s collective mental substrate—that is, to encourage as many minds as possible to be (1) open enough to new ideas so they can test them against existing ideas, and (2) logical enough to let the best ideas win. To do our part in creating a world in which the best ideas win, we see our first big challenge being the creation of a world in which people are willing to consider ideas that conflict with their existing worldviews in a serious and thoughtful manner and creating venues where such conversations can be had.

**The Pragmatist’s**

**Guide to Governance**

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______________________
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From high school cliques to boards,
family offices, and nations:
A guide to optimizing governance models

By Simone & Malcolm Collins

[http://Pragmatist.Guide](http://pragmatist.guide)

Copyright © 2022

Omniscion Press

Simone & Malcolm Collins

All rights reserved.

[Juicier than Sex 1](#_Toc124854443)

[As Critical as Communication 3](#_Toc124854444)

[Failure 7](#_Toc124854445)

[The Immortality of a Vision 7](#_Toc124854446)

[The Competence Paradox 12](#_Toc124854447)

[Navigating the Machine 16](#_Toc124854448)

[Humans as a Medium 27](#_Toc124854449)

[Human Dominance Hierarchies 27](#_Toc124854450)

[How Dominance Hierarchies Work 30](#_Toc124854451)

[Tribal Groups 39](#_Toc124854452)

[Culture Drift 44](#_Toc124854453)

[Dominance in Broader Society 46](#_Toc124854454)

[Why Are We Talking About This? 49](#_Toc124854455)

[Gender Differences in Dominance Hierarchies 53](#_Toc124854456)

[Cultural Differences in Dominance Hierarchies 58](#_Toc124854457)

[How Personal Social Rank Changes Behavior 61](#_Toc124854458)

[Self-Image Reinforcement and Leadership 63](#_Toc124854459)

[Cancer and Institutional Immune Systems 68](#_Toc124854460)

[Structuring How We Think About Governance 74](#_Toc124854461)

[The Decider 76](#_Toc124854462)

[The Selector 79](#_Toc124854463)

[Important Governing Features 82](#_Toc124854464)

[Interaction With Other Units 83](#_Toc124854465)

[Big Brother, Little Brother, and Phantom Brother 87](#_Toc124854466)

[Success Metrics 90](#_Toc124854467)

[The Case of Mao’s Great Leap Forward 91](#_Toc124854468)

[The Case of Modern Academia 93](#_Toc124854469)

[Judging the Quality of a Government 99](#_Toc124854470)

[The Will of the People 99](#_Toc124854471)

[Creativity 101](#_Toc124854472)

[Efficiency 102](#_Toc124854473)

[Friction 103](#_Toc124854474)

[Longevity 103](#_Toc124854475)

[Size 104](#_Toc124854476)

[The Square Cube Law of Governance 109](#_Toc124854477)

[The Bleed Amelioration Problem 112](#_Toc124854478)

[How to Optimally Approach Large Governing Body Design 114](#_Toc124854479)

[The Outdated Debate: Socialism vs. Capitalism 119](#_Toc124854480)

[Globalism vs. Nationalism 120](#_Toc124854481)

[Automation vs. Power to the People 122](#_Toc124854482)

[The Real Difference Between Progressives and Conservatives 126](#_Toc124854483)

[Communism 130](#_Toc124854484)

[The Power Consolidation Problem 134](#_Toc124854485)

[The HOA Problem 140](#_Toc124854486)

[The Centrally Managed Economy Problem 143](#_Toc124854487)

[The Cancer Problem 148](#_Toc124854488)

[Can These Hazards Be Addressed With Tech? 149](#_Toc124854489)

[Unfettered Capitalism = Communism 150](#_Toc124854490)

[War as a Consolidator 152](#_Toc124854491)

[Revolutions: A Predictive Model 154](#_Toc124854492)

[Winning the Online Culture War 158](#_Toc124854493)

[Voting 162](#_Toc124854494)

[Who Can Vote? 163](#_Toc124854495)

[Starship Troopers and Contributor Voting Systems 171](#_Toc124854496)

[Wards of the State 179](#_Toc124854497)

[Flat vs. Proportional Voting Systems 183](#_Toc124854498)

[Strategic Voting 186](#_Toc124854499)

[Compelled Voting Systems 189](#_Toc124854500)

[How Votes are Collected and Counted 193](#_Toc124854501)

[Win Conditions 196](#_Toc124854502)

[Quadratic Voting 198](#_Toc124854503)

[Consensus Decision Making 200](#_Toc124854504)

[Sortition 202](#_Toc124854505)

[Political Parties 205](#_Toc124854506)

[The Heritability of Political Affiliation 213](#_Toc124854507)

[Consensus Democracies 216](#_Toc124854508)

[The “Correct” Answer 218](#_Toc124854509)

[Representatives 225](#_Toc124854510)

[Pre-Vetting & Self-Vetting Systems 225](#_Toc124854511)

[Accountability 229](#_Toc124854512)

[Term Limits 232](#_Toc124854513)

[Dictatorships 235](#_Toc124854514)

[The Failure of Democracy 239](#_Toc124854515)

[Translating Stakeholder Will into Action 244](#_Toc124854516)

[Delegation Pathways 244](#_Toc124854517)

[Capturing Institutional Knowledge 247](#_Toc124854518)

[Crafting Culture 249](#_Toc124854519)

[The 360 Review Problem 251](#_Toc124854520)

[Decider Group Size, Composition, and Interaction Pattern 254](#_Toc124854521)

[A Weird Use Case for Futures Markets 258](#_Toc124854522)

[The Pyramid vs. The Chinese Room 260](#_Toc124854523)

[DAOs 266](#_Toc124854524)

[Centralization vs. Decentralization 271](#_Toc124854525)

[Flat Organizational Structures 273](#_Toc124854526)

[Holacracy 276](#_Toc124854527)

[Anarchy 281](#_Toc124854528)

[Markets 284](#_Toc124854529)

[Fighting Inequality with Governance 290](#_Toc124854530)

[Bigotry 294](#_Toc124854531)

[The Equilibrium Problem 295](#_Toc124854532)

[The Pendulum Effect 305](#_Toc124854533)

[The Solution 308](#_Toc124854534)

[Discrimination in Summation 310](#_Toc124854535)

[Systems for Fixing Bias 311](#_Toc124854536)

[Preventing Bias in Education 311](#_Toc124854537)

[Reducing Bias in Content Moderation 314](#_Toc124854538)

[Handy Governing Gimmicks 319](#_Toc124854539)

[Exploiting Human Nature 319](#_Toc124854540)

[Governance Marketplaces 321](#_Toc124854541)

[Bribery, Lobbying, and Burn 324](#_Toc124854542)

[Cooperatives 327](#_Toc124854543)

[Open-source Governance 329](#_Toc124854544)

[AI Assisted Governance 330](#_Toc124854545)

[4Chan and Anonymity Effects 331](#_Toc124854546)

[Titles, Privileges, and Perception 333](#_Toc124854547)

[Public Broadcasting and Education 335](#_Toc124854548)

[Government Participation as a PR Mechanism 337](#_Toc124854549)

[Noocracies and Technocracies 338](#_Toc124854550)

[Crafting the Perfect Government 342](#_Toc124854551)

[Why do we need better governance structures? 342](#_Toc124854552)

[Governance Bombs 344](#_Toc124854553)

[Designing a Governance Bomb 350](#_Toc124854554)

[A Governance Bomb Demonstration 352](#_Toc124854555)

[Internal Bodies 352](#_Toc124854556)

[Voting Power and Influence 357](#_Toc124854557)

[Resource Allocation 361](#_Toc124854558)

[Management 363](#_Toc124854559)

[Great Chatting Again 365](#_Toc124854560)

[Information Flow 367](#_Toc124854561)

[Information Asymmetry 368](#_Toc124854562)

[Handling Disinformation 368](#_Toc124854563)

[Informational Echo Chambers 370](#_Toc124854564)

[Informational Filters on Those Given Power 371](#_Toc124854565)

[Vote Transparency 372](#_Toc124854566)

[Enforcement Mechanisms 373](#_Toc124854567)

[Maintaining Motivation 374](#_Toc124854568)

[Governing Model Inefficiencies 377](#_Toc124854569)

[Rent Seeking 377](#_Toc124854570)

[The Flypaper Effect 379](#_Toc124854571)

[The Principal-Agent Problem 380](#_Toc124854572)

[Moral Hazard 381](#_Toc124854573)

[Regulatory Capture 382](#_Toc124854574)

[Cataloging Voting 383](#_Toc124854575)