Episode summary: David gives the third in his series of talks about the future of democracy. This one uses an idea from cosmology to work out where we might be in the story of democracy: are we at the beginning, in the middle or near the end? It all depends when and where we think the story starts. From Stonehenge to Les Miserables, from ancient Athens to Facebook, a simple idea turns out to have some surprising applications, and some important lessons for contemporary politics. Talking Points: The Copernican Principle is based on the idea that we are not the center of the universe. - Because we are not inherently special, most of the time, we encounter things without a natural life expectancy somewhere in the random middle. - If something has been going on for years, it will likely keep going for years. If something has been going on for weeks, it will likely keep going for weeks. What does this mean for democracy? It depends on which story you think we’re in. - The long story is about 2,500 years old, going back to the…
Extremely interesting "lecture" from David Runciman, the thrid in his series on democracy. This one explores the idea that we would have to be very special to be in on the start, the end or the exact middle of almost anything. Runciman ties this to the long-, the medium- and the short-term versions of democracy, and concludes that it could mean that both the medium-term and the short-term visions of democracy might be on their way out over thye next decade or so, but that the long-term version could survive in some shape or other. Glum stuff, in many ways but also, if you're used to taking a long view, a useful antidote to all the excitement.
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