New Demarchy FAQ

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Summary

A structured list of the most common questions of newcomers with short answers.

== Political classification ==

=== Where is New Demarchy positioned on the political spectrum? ===
New Demarchy neither favours left-wing nor right-wing ideologies of the [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Political_spectrum|political spectrum]], it is strictly evidence-based. [[http://longnow.org/seminars/02007/jan/26/why-foxes-are-better-forecasters-than-hedgehogs/|Empirical evidence from 28,000 political predictions]] shows that persons who believe in a left-wing or right-wing ideology produce significantly worse forecasts than open-minded, non-partisan thinkers.

=== What is the link between forecasting and policy decision-making? ===
Policy-makers base their decisions on their personal expectations about the relevant future. The better one's predictions, the better one's decisions. Prediction competitions train and measure this skillset.

== Participation ==

=== Is there a political party for New Demarchy? Can I join it? ===
A demarchic deliberation about the founding of such a political party has started in December 2015 for public participation here: <<topic New demarchy foundation>>. After its foundation, everybody can join and is welcome, as everybody is an expert in something.

=== Can I participate with a screen name identity? ===
Yes, use your real name or a screen name at your free choice. However, participation with two or more identities in any single competition is forbidden.

=== Can I participate free of charges? ===
Yes, taking part in prediction questions and competitions is free.

=== Why a random selection of decision makers (sortition) instead of picking the highest ranked expert? ===
Sortition gives more protection against corruption as individual experts may rank first for long periods. It motivates to participate in a field because there is always a chance to be the chosen decision maker.

=== What is the chance that the selected decision maker has no clue about that specific topic? ===
Isn't that the description of a representative democracy? Ok, in earnest: Decision makers must meet minimum requirements for sortition eligibility (e.g. number of predictions, percent of correct predictions, expertise points earned).

=== Why should New Demarchy's rep in a government follow the decision maker's resolution? ===
Before the appointment of such representative, he must enter into a personal legal agreement with New Demarchy which will also stipulate guarantees and penalties compatible with local legislation.

== Software and Service ==

=== Who pays for New Demarchy's development and hosting? ===
New Demarchy is being developed and hosted by Prediki which uses the income from its commercial market research business to sponsor and bootstrap the initiative.

=== Is New Demarchy based on free or open-source software? ===
Prediki recognises the need for full transparency and is committed to open its source code, including a license for non-commercial use when New Demarchy gets a representative in a national government body.

=== Could predictions be manipulated by the administrators of Prediki? ===
Prediki is fully transparent and open to scrutiny: everybody sees everybody's activity, all processes and algorithms are fully self-evident. Prediki also plans to move onto a distributed platform concurrently with source code opening (see above).

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== Further information ==

* <<meta The New Demarchy Manifesto>>

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