From: pwu@ai.mit.edu (Peng Wu)
Newsgroups: soc.culture.china
Subject: Re: Chinese, Are you jealous?
Date: 7 Nov 92 00:59:07
Organization: MIT Artificial Intelligence Laboratory
NNTP-Posting-Host: espresso.ai.mit.edu
In-reply-to: fang@athena.cs.uga.edu's message of Fri, 6 Nov 1992 16:47:27 GMT

I thought I had done my duty for this week.  But I like these questions so
much that I am willing to work overtime:-)

    From: fang@athena.cs.uga.edu (Yi Fang)
    
    General Q:
    Is Voting system for democracy so admirable?
    
I would like to borrow from George Bush (be forewarned that I have a terrible
memory and I always got shameful scores on political tests).  He said
something at one time to the effect that "our system is not perfect, but it is
the best system available".  Whether the system is the best available is
debatable, but not this point: no system is perfect.

As to how to evaluate a system, I think we should take a historical or
statistical point of view.  That is, we should look at a long period of time
and see if one system works better than another, in terms of progresses in
multiple dimensions, e.g., social, material, wellbeing, etc. (what a
convenient word!).  However, the comparison is easier said than done.  I think
everyone knows that how to compare social systems are more than Nobel prize
worth topics.

I heard that European countries have somewhat different political and law
systems than America.  Could friends on the other side of Atlantic give us
some idea?

    Sub Q
    (1) Will voting always make sense? Majority rule always right?
    
I think much goes before voting.  Whether voting makes sense depends on what
goes before the voting.  Majority rule without protecting minority is
terrible.

    (2) Is voting result the best choice for all countries's development?
    
It depends on what the choices are and how well the voters understand them.

    (3) In china, so many people are not so well educated, do they have the
	ability to decide which candidate is the best for the country? 
    
I think this is a myth rather than a fact that Chinese can not decide for
themselves.  What goes before voting is a kind of education process.  If one
wants to do it, in my humble opinion, it is not necessarily more difficult in
China than in America, given the personality difference.

    (4) In USA how many percents voters vote really based on unbiased policy of the 
	three candidates? 
  
None.  All voters are biased, one way or another.  But collectively, it may
not be too bad.  One should also understand that social issues are not in the
realm of science yet.  The important product of a voting process is consensus.
"Together we can make a difference", unity is what counts.  George may call
Bill waffle, but I think Bill is better equipped to make consensus partly
because of that.  That is one of the things I like Bill.  scc certainly can
borrow from Bill.
  
    (5) If the chinese 9 billion peasants vote for a 'Nong(2) Min(2) Ling(3)
	Xiu(4), Jiang(1) He(2) Da(4) Xia(3)' because of their poor education
	or watching TV too much, do you think it's good to China, will you
	accept the result?
    
(-) I think that hypothesis is unlikely to become true. (=) Even if that is
the case, we must accept it given that we have agreed to the voting before
hand.  Otherwise we are cheating.  If we have not agreed to the voting, we
still have to live with the result.  We simply can not play God.  (E) Such
outcome is also a myth (not just trying to see if I can make a three out of
this char set).

    (6) How do you decide which candidate telling the truth? If someone succeed
	in cheating the people for his own profit and cause a disaster to the
	country, .......??
    
Use my gut feeling.  If I am cheated and never detect it, I will just be
happy.  If I detect it, I will try to correct it and mend the procedure.
There is no bulletproof system.  All systems depend on goodwill to succeed.
Goodwill should go before a good system.

    (7) What is most important to a country or nation? Democracy or economy
	or education or something else? I notice the tribe people in Africa 
	sing and dance all days to show their happiness, are you jealous?
    
Happiness is very important.  Happiness rooted in ignorance is inferior to
happiness rooted in knowledge, but nonetheless is happiness.  When I used the
word "inferior", it is my subjective general opinion.  Different context and
different people may lead to different opinions.  I think mental wellbeing has
not received sufficient attention in China compared with material wellbeing.
As to other things, I think they all work together, not working against each
other.  If they are working against each other, someone has got them wrong.

    (8) Anybody out there has a very clear idea which way chinese should go?
    
I do not.  That is why I am still here, thinking sometimes.  Otherwise, I
would have been working on it.  But I do think I have some better ideas than
some of the leaders of China, official or non-official alike.

    etc.
    
    These are just question, not statements.
    
    Yi Fang

Mine are statements.  Bricks, to be more accurate.