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Computational Governance

Date: 2012-04-12
Tags: legislation code automation

Automating social well-being for greater levels of human expression I've been contemplating the codification of human values into codes of law that through technology, we can get live, living feedback and administration of our intent. This concept connotes Big Brother, but automation requires environmental awareness, and it is requiring people to consider and debate the implications. Yet, it does have the capacity to improve service.

As citizens, we can work with government to identify, measure, and evaluate key metrics and performance along those lines. Personally, I also think its important to be aware of the overhead required for such detailed tracking, so I find value in automating away administrative overhead where possible.

Earlier notes (2012)

The notion that there is a current state of balance and an ideal state of balance, and there is a discrepancy between those two states, is the foundation of computational governance. Proper governance, in my opinion, is establishing the highest quality of life possible and cultivating the most advantageous energy and operational patterns through humans in our universe.

Computation far exceeds human capacities to measure key metrics and statistics that reveal the true state and nature of organizations. Only by revealing and paying attention to our own metadata can we fully prosper. Continuous feedback is an indicator of evolved lifeforms. We, as humans, and as a society, must be aware of this fact.

Computational governance includes the notion that we can further automate well-being into our lives by being keenly aware of our effectiveness and efficiency in the public sphere.

These are just notes that start to sketch out what might foster improvement for both citizens and government.

Public service categories

  • City Hall
  • City Council
  • Fire
  • Water
  • Police
  • Welfare
  • Garbage/Waste
  • Electric/Utility
  • School
  • Districts
  • Cemeteries
  • Municipal Golf Courses
  • … others

Public services

  • Fire: extinguish fire
  • Public protection: patrol, protect, mediate, investigate
  • Education: educate, recreation, community
  • Garbage service: regular service, special service, equipment maintenance
  • Water service: repair, special project, maintenance
  • Electric service: electric supply and billing

Public places

  • Lat/Lng
  • Name
  • Date/Time Range
  • Primary User/Maintainer/Author
  • … other attributes

Stitching these items together into a formulaic, computational model can yield great results. Like any technology, it just amplifies human attributes and desires, so we have work to do to have conversations about significantly meaningful items in our life.

What do we really want? What individual and group behaviors yield the best quality of life?

By Ryan Wold · © 2012–2026 Ryan Wold

Licensed CC BY-NC 4.0. AI training requires a license — machine-readable terms.

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