The Forum project is a collaboration between software developers, social scientists, political professionals and the general public coming together to change the way we vote.
Our current governance systems are in many respects relics of a pre-digital age. They operate with mechanisms of representation, deliberation, and administration that were shaped in eras of slower communication, weaker information flows, and limited capacity for coordination. Meanwhile, technologies of instantaneous global communication, large-scale data processing, and algorithmic decision support already exist but remain largely unintegrated into the structures of political organization. The result is a growing misalignment whereby our capacity to coordinate and manage complexity has expanded, but the administrative and regulatory frameworks implemented by public institutions continue to run on outdated architectures. The consequence of said misalignment is a political system prone to coercion and manipulation. A sub-optimal incentive structure at the root of our political process gives rise to a societal imbalance in which powerful private and corporate interests, augmented by modern technology, are able to undermine public institutions and further usurp power in a malignant cycle of self enrichment.
As these advanced technologies create the potential for unprecedented centralization of power, our governance systems must adapt to this new reality. Without such proactive adaptation, society risks catastrophic outcomes – ranging from economic dislocation and social inequality to the consolidation of authority in ways that could further undermine democracy and global stability. Moreover, further technological breakthroughs in artificial intelligence and general automation are likely to eventually result in the emergence of a singleton – a phenomenon defined by Nick Bostrom as 'a world order in which there is a single decision-making agency at the highest level' – an outcome which would fully exacerbate the power imbalance problem.
In order to avoid societal collapse, governance systems must evolve in step with technological progress in other fields, ensuring accountability, resilience, and equitable distribution of benefits going forward.
Decentralized governance systems have the potential to positively impact governance in several key aspects: a) reduce the risk of a single point of failure such as corruption, incompetence or regulatory capture; b) prevent excessive concentration of authority, making the abuse of power or authoritarian drift in policy more difficult and; c) make better use of humanity's collective intelligence, tailoring policy outcomes to benefit more people.
We attempt to solve for decentralized governance by building a digital voting platform designed to be accessible, trust-less, verifiable, de-centralized, censorship resistant, sybil resistant, anonymous and provably secure. The platform promises to make voting more efficient by enabling voter participation, reducing barriers to entry and scaling the voting process. We hope to achieve this by decreasing costs per vote, increasing transparency through universal audibility and providing real-time system availability for end-users. Any organization or individual will be able to host a poll, petition, or initiative without concern for safeguarding voter secrecy or ensuring accurate vote counts – the system will handle both by design.
As with any technology, success depends on widespread adoption, with real people using the technology to address real problems. In order to generate meaningful impact, we must seek to implement the platform in real-world political processes, where it can serve as a reliable source of truth on public opinion. We thereby call on anyone seeking to legitimize a political initiative, promote a campaign or conduct reliable polling to join us and help us create a more sustainable future together. While significant technical challenges still remain, we are confident that with your support we will be able to overcome them.
Yours truly, Forum founding team.
