Unscarcity Notes

Foundational Principles

Foundational Principles Two inviolable rules anchor the system: Truth Must Be Seen (radical transparency) and Power Must Decay (temporal limits on influence). They function like physical...

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Foundational Principles

Two inviolable rules anchor the system: Truth Must Be Seen (radical transparency) and Power Must Decay (temporal limits on influence). They function like physical laws–unsuspendable even during emergencies–and supersede the Guiding Axioms.

Transparency mandates open data, auditable AI, and visible decision trails so corruption and capture are structurally difficult. Power decay enforces term limits on offices, automatic Merit decay, and sunset clauses on authorities, countering the Iron Law of Oligarchy. Together they make authoritarian drift mathematically and procedurally hard.

These principles synthesize lessons from failed opaque regimes and modern accountability research, embedding them into code, policy, and social norms rather than leaving them to goodwill.

References

  • UnscarcityBook, chapter3
  • James Madison, Federalist No. 51 (1788)
  • Bo Rothstein, “The Quality of Government” (2011)
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