Before anyone gets the wrong idea, no, I’m not talking about the movie/show The Watchmen. I’m referring to the ancient philosophical question “quis custodiet ipsos custodes” or “who watches the watchmen”. Go read up on that elsewhere.
For those of you who don’t know and need a summary here, it’s a question often posed in reference to the fact that the person or people in charge of making sure the rules are honored have nothing preventing them from disobeying the rules. There’s never anything preventing the person guarding your treasure from stealing some of the treasure, for example.
What’s the best remedy to this that you can think of?
Unironically communism. The more things are held in common the less incentive there is for people to steal, especially if you can ensure providing a decent or at the least constantly improving standard of living while making examples out of those who hoard wealth or violate the public trust (see china executing a few corrupt billionaires every now and again).
More than one group of custodians, ideally with conflicting interests, watching one another? Essentially some system of checks and balances?
We can be each others’ watchers, hierarchy isn’t a natural law
Anarchism.
I dunno, but did they see the gorilla?
Dr. Manhattan, obviously.
full accounting transparency helps… according to the blockchain believers.
