Applying Scientific Democracy means citizens demand politicians make testable claims. Politicians enable Scientific Democracy by using precise language to enable testing. A claim is then tested by well-constructed experiments. The experiments either validate or invalidate the claim through measurement.
This approach to governance requires transparency in setting up the experiment, during the experiment, and in publishing results.
Historically, the United States was designed to enable policy experimentation.
An example of applying Scientific Democracy is using the tools of science to improve social policy (theguardian.com, 2012). You can read more examples here.
How to engage in Scientific Democracy:
- As a citizen [source],
- vote for candidates on the basis of their ability to apply the scientific method when evaluating choices
- run for office and support the use of science
- if a government agency is looking for input from the public, provide solicited comments
- Unsolicited comments: Governments can learn about public opinion on issues and the effects of events through apps and venues that gather constituents' posts
- Citizen as Sensor - ie crime reporting
- Volunteer
- Citizen as Scientist: Individuals can contribute to collective knowledge. For example, the free Mojave Desert Tortoise app lets users take a photo, find out more about this endangered species, and note location and other information about an individual tortoise.
- As a civil servant, apply the scientific method to decision making and evaluating ideas
- As a journalist, focus on explaining the process of science research
- As a politician, learn how to apply the scientific method to policy decisions. See the Open Policy Making toolkit.
- As a scientist, run for office!
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