11.11 How to Manage Our Future: Some Proposals for Immediate Action
239
other. Importantly, when trying to reach high-level social or environmental standards or similar goals, countries, cities and companies shouldn’t be compelled
to implement a single, “one-size-fits-all” solution. In the very best sense of
pluralism, one should have a choice of at least two or three options, which are
based on best practice. Then, a culturally and locally fitting solution can be
found. This will increase diversity and resilience, as there is probably not just
one good solution, but several. It will also increase societal support.
32 Finally, in
many cases, compulsory regulations can be replaced by best practice guidelines,
thereby helping everyone to improve established practices.
3. Build a reputation system to promote awareness, quality and responsible
action. If we reduce the number of laws and regulations, we need to replace
them with something else. More freedom can be given to decision-makers if
they behave more responsibly. Merit-based and reputation systems can be used
to promote considerate and responsible action. They can foster cooperation
and social order in efficient and effective ways. In fact, reputation systems are
rapidly spreading across the Internet precisely because they are so useful. They
help to give customers better services, and allow sellers to get a higher price
for better quality products and services. However, reputation systems could be
improved in a numbers of ways. Attempts to manipulate rankings or to spam the
system should be discouraged. Facts, advertisements and opinions should be
clearly distinguished from each other. It should be possible to post ratings in an
anonymous, pseudonymous and personal capacity, but these distinct forms of
engagement should be assigned different weights. Reputation and recommendation systems should be community-specific, and based on multiple quality
criteria. Users should be able to choose, configure, create and share information
filters and recommendation algorithms, in order to support pluralism and create
an evolving ecosystem of increasingly better information filters.
4. Rebalance top-down and bottom-up decision-making according to the wellestablished principle of subsidiarity.
33 In order to enable everyone to make
better-informed decisions and act more effectively, we need to build open and
participatory information platforms. This will empower people to contribute
to the management of our systems from the bottom-up, producing outcomes
which are more attuned to the diverse local needs, considering local knowledge that matters. Altogether, we will increasingly see a change away from
hierarchical decision-making (“you should do this!”) towards autonomous but
other-regarding activities (“I can do something that needs to be done!”). This
obviously needs differentiated multi-dimensional reward systems and information platforms that help to coordinate local activities and facilitate the selfregulation of communities. Such systems could also resolve many conflicts of
32 A broader support for laws can be often achieved by increasing the number of options.
33 According to the subsidiarity principle, higher-level organizational units should only manage
tasks, which cannot be efficiently performed on lower levels. Otherwise higher-level units should
interfere as little as possible. They should rather provide suitable incentives or institutional settings
that support the self-organization of lower-level activities.
239
other. Importantly, when trying to reach high-level social or environmental standards or similar goals, countries, cities and companies shouldn’t be compelled
to implement a single, “one-size-fits-all” solution. In the very best sense of
pluralism, one should have a choice of at least two or three options, which are
based on best practice. Then, a culturally and locally fitting solution can be
found. This will increase diversity and resilience, as there is probably not just
one good solution, but several. It will also increase societal support.
32 Finally, in
many cases, compulsory regulations can be replaced by best practice guidelines,
thereby helping everyone to improve established practices.
3. Build a reputation system to promote awareness, quality and responsible
action. If we reduce the number of laws and regulations, we need to replace
them with something else. More freedom can be given to decision-makers if
they behave more responsibly. Merit-based and reputation systems can be used
to promote considerate and responsible action. They can foster cooperation
and social order in efficient and effective ways. In fact, reputation systems are
rapidly spreading across the Internet precisely because they are so useful. They
help to give customers better services, and allow sellers to get a higher price
for better quality products and services. However, reputation systems could be
improved in a numbers of ways. Attempts to manipulate rankings or to spam the
system should be discouraged. Facts, advertisements and opinions should be
clearly distinguished from each other. It should be possible to post ratings in an
anonymous, pseudonymous and personal capacity, but these distinct forms of
engagement should be assigned different weights. Reputation and recommendation systems should be community-specific, and based on multiple quality
criteria. Users should be able to choose, configure, create and share information
filters and recommendation algorithms, in order to support pluralism and create
an evolving ecosystem of increasingly better information filters.
4. Rebalance top-down and bottom-up decision-making according to the wellestablished principle of subsidiarity.
33 In order to enable everyone to make
better-informed decisions and act more effectively, we need to build open and
participatory information platforms. This will empower people to contribute
to the management of our systems from the bottom-up, producing outcomes
which are more attuned to the diverse local needs, considering local knowledge that matters. Altogether, we will increasingly see a change away from
hierarchical decision-making (“you should do this!”) towards autonomous but
other-regarding activities (“I can do something that needs to be done!”). This
obviously needs differentiated multi-dimensional reward systems and information platforms that help to coordinate local activities and facilitate the selfregulation of communities. Such systems could also resolve many conflicts of
32 A broader support for laws can be often achieved by increasing the number of options.
33 According to the subsidiarity principle, higher-level organizational units should only manage
tasks, which cannot be efficiently performed on lower levels. Otherwise higher-level units should
interfere as little as possible. They should rather provide suitable incentives or institutional settings
that support the self-organization of lower-level activities.