I agree with E. O. Wilson that group selection in social animals like ants and humans favors cooperation within groups and warfare between groups. Sortocracy looks like the opposite, kind of like the ideals of Karl Marx's equal distribution of resources, but on a global scale. Communism is a utopian paradise on paper, but failed because it was poorly implemented by people like Stalin, Castro, Mao, Pol Pot, and the Kim dynasty.
Sortocracy looks great on paper too. Territorial disputes like Ukraine and Gaza would be instantly settled by dividing up the land by its market value in proportion to population. Countries that are losing population like China, Japan, and Italy would cede land to countries with fast growing populations like Nigeria, DRC, and Afghanistan. What could possibly go wrong? Successful developed countries have two important distinguishing features. First, they have free market economies with minimal taxes and regulations, and second, a government that distributes power through a large number of people, like an elected congress or parliament instead of an autocratic leader. This is because large groups such as markets are collectively more intelligent than their members who individually believe they are smarter than the group. Mao did not intentionally kill 30 million people by starving them to death. The failure wasn't due to evil. It was the concentration of power and absence of collective intelligence that killed them. Sortocracy will require some type of global authority to manage the distribution of territory, including the "state of nature" which I guess would consist of land that nobody wants like Antarctica where unwanted people would be sent to die. Maybe like the UN, but with real power and a strong military to enforce the rules. My question is how would you implement this global authority? Would you organize it like a traditional democracy where each country sends representatives with voting power in proportion to population, or would it be AGI? Either would be more intelligent than a single human. -- Matt Mahoney, [email protected] On Thu, Jul 23, 2026, 8:04 PM James Bowery <[email protected]> wrote: > > > On Thu, Jul 23, 2026 at 6:32 PM Matt Mahoney <[email protected]> > wrote: > >> >> On Thu, Jul 23, 2026, 3:02 AM Quan Tesla <[email protected]> wrote: >> >>> ... >>> >> James proposes using compression to settle disputes over questions of >> social policy. Solomonoff induction tells us that the shortest program that >> outputs past observations is the best predictor of future observations. >> That is exactly what we are measuring with text compression. This seems to >> me a better solution than the one he linked that proposes >> > > > Minimalist Rules for Sortocracy > <https://sortocracy.org/minimalist-rules-for-sortocracy/> > 1 Reply <https://sortocracy.org/minimalist-rules-for-sortocracy/#comments> > > Minimalist* Rules for Sortocracy: > > 1. Sortocracy recognizes all States* have legitimate power to control > the presence of individuals on their respective territories. This includes > exclusion or exile of anyone for any reason whatsoever. > 2. Sortocracy requires that all States provide relocation for anyone, > and their dependents, requesting emigration or being exiled. This does > _not_ necessarily include relocation of capital assets claimed as > “property” by those relocating. “Property rights” are defined by States > themselves, not by Sortocracy. Their dependents include any children that > have not been given up for adoption. > 3. Sortocracy grants States territorial value in proportion to a > census of their members. Sortocracy issues cash flow to States for > territorial rent. This money is backed by territorial value. States then > competitively bid to rent territory from Sortocracy. > 4. New individuals qualify for admission to Sortocracy under one of 2 > conditions: > 1. Inheritance: For example, an ancestor of a child may will his > membership to a descendant. > 2. Territorial acquisition: A State admitting an individual as a > new member of Sortocracy must add territory to Sortocracy equal in > value a > member’s territorial rent. > 5. If no other State will accept a relocating member, at least one > State of Nature must be set aside for such members in which human > group selection > <http://longnow.org/seminars/02012/apr/20/social-conquest-earth/> is > suppressed by rules enforcing individual sovereignty, including death > penalty and deadly natural duel as nature’s preferred dispute processing of > last resort <http://sortocracy.org/the-state-of-nature/>. > > This eliminates prisons, war over territory and tyranny in all its forms > including liberal democracy’s tyranny of the majority limited only by a > vague laundry list of selectively enforced “human rights”. > > *Sortocracy achieves the aim of radical minarchism > <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Minarchism> by recognizing the > individual’s right to territory is prior to group authority in the form of > government, including any more elaborate notions of “property”. This is > founded on the recognition that access to territory is a necessary > condition of life and that, prior to group force, such as government, such > access is often granted through natural aggression between individuals. > This entry was posted in Rules <https://sortocracy.org/category/rules/> > on September 26, 2014 > <https://sortocracy.org/minimalist-rules-for-sortocracy/>. > > Now, compare that to Matt's characterization: > > hand to hand combat between sovereign citizens with a 25 cm knife and 15 >> meters of strong cordage. >> > > Item 5 is last on the list for a good reason, Matt -- and it isn't to > "hide a crazy idea in the fine print". > *Artificial General Intelligence List <https://agi.topicbox.com/latest>* > / AGI / see discussions <https://agi.topicbox.com/groups/agi> + > participants <https://agi.topicbox.com/groups/agi/members> + > delivery options <https://agi.topicbox.com/groups/agi/subscription> > Permalink > <https://agi.topicbox.com/groups/agi/T5b58bcc51c493d41-M1e104827f289cf9f74ddf7d0> > ------------------------------------------ Artificial General Intelligence List: AGI Permalink: https://agi.topicbox.com/groups/agi/T5b58bcc51c493d41-M06aae57a1b27fc17da95ec65 Delivery options: https://agi.topicbox.com/groups/agi/subscription
