Geniocracy

I will be taking on the con position of GENIOCRACY IS A GOOD POLITICAL SYSTEM, IN THEORY. I accept the definitions put forward by Lexus. Geniocracy is not a good political system, although it appears to have a noble and pragmatic goal of effective governance, by its nature it excludes the greater majority of the population from the political process. The system is a completely unproven one in practice, that is of course if one excludes its use as a highly recommended system of government by an advanced race of space aliens. If we ignore many of the issues in relation to how to measure intelligence, whether it is IQ, EQ or a combination of both, geniocracy appears to favour potential intelligence, rather than acquired knowledge, or dare we say wisdom. Rael, the leader of the International Raelian Movement who first proposed this system of government appears not to have had a thorough understanding of human history. If he had he may have seen that transitioning an alien system of government upon another race of humanoids would have dire consequences. Arbitrary measures to exclude individuals from the political process and representation are doomed to ultimately fail, especially in a Western democratic context. In the past - and indeed in the present - a variety of different measures have been used to determine the "value" of individual"s contribution or worth such as: Blood lines, Racial heritage Religion Skin Colour Wealth or Class Sometimes the above may be legislated, or they may simply eventuate as a result of discrimination, both intentional or via unconscious bias. If a select minority of individuals make the grade to rule, and a larger minority are able to elect them, the silent majority will be left without a voice, platform or means to change the status quo. The only option left to them will be civil (or not so civil) disobedience. It defies belief that a political system that is proposed by the "intelligent" totally ignores what occurs when the politically powerless majority attempt to have some input into the electoral process. It can become quite hazardous to the health of the ruling class and has been known to cause an onset of acute - though not long lasting - neck pain. Let them eat cake indeed. The other quality sought in a geniocracy is that of compassion. Unlike measures of intelligence " attempting to evaluate for compassion would be difficult due to the ease of the test subject being able to provide the results the tester would be seeking. With the more intelligent test subjects being considerably deft at swaying the outcome to their benefit. When one considers that outcomes from any such intelligence or personality tests will be heavily influenced by the education attained, the cultural background and the socio-economic standing of individuals there is a significant potential for highly intelligent people to be omitted from "selection". Instead those from backgrounds with greater available resources can be coached to ensure improved results. There is an invalid assumption that the election of intelligent individuals by a pool of slightly less intelligent individuals will not result in some level of popularism. Just like we see today, the wealthy (let"s assume they are intelligent) do not like to vote for someone that is going to raise progressive taxes. In a geniocratic society where so much value is placed on intelligence, those same people will have potentially a lot more to lose personally if policies were put forward that would limit their social or economic standing. Highly intelligent individuals currently operate in governments that span the entire political spectrum of views, be they conservative or liberal. Removing the less intelligent amongst them will still leave a wide range of leanings that will be potentially even more difficult to bridge through consensus as the respective sides will be even more abstinent in their views. Each one is a state verified genius, voted into office by thousands of intelligent individuals, how could their perspectives be possibly wrong? Finally do we really want all the most intelligent people wasting their gifts within the halls of government where the political process stymies their productivity and contribution to society? Great politicians and leaders successfully sell their vision to the populous, surround themselves with the best minds in their fields, excel under pressure, and broker compromise with their adversaries to implement positive change. That skill set is certainly not limited to the top percentile that would be considered electable under a geniocracy. I will leave the last word in the round to a genius that one would expect to be on "the list" "Everybody is a genius. But if you judge a fish by its ability to climb a tree, it will live its whole life believing that it is stupid." R13; Albert Einstein* *There is no substantive evidence connecting Albert Einstein to the above quotation