Meritocracy World

How can Meritocracy become the modern world's dominant political system, like Democracy IOTL?

The first thing that comes to mind is an ascendant China whose meritocratic traditions, either through military dominance or more widespread cultural influence, spread throughout the world much like Britain and America's democratic traditions IOTL.

An example of a scenario involving more widespread Chinese cultural influence is the Pope approving the Chinese rites in the 17th Century. This leads to much closer economic and cultural ties & exchanges between Europe and China and eventually, the idea of meritocracy reaches Europe and penetrates the European philosophical and intellectual community, making meritocracy a central tenet of the upcoming Enlightenment.

But what else could happen to make meritocracy as prevalent as democracy IOTL?
 

yellowdingo

Banned
Even a Meritocracy is open to abuse: in the end it is about who reaitns power by any means.

If a fully functional Meritocracy were available you would need to decide what merits inequality.

Intellectual power? Most brilliant mind?

The answer to Life, the Universe, and everything: String Theory Invalidates Religion and Evolution. The Universe is debris of Change in Possibility, Time is continuous change in Possibility, and a Singularity a Point of change in Possibility.

That makes me the one in six billion who is in charge and gets all the resources.;)
 
There are two problems with the premise of this thread:

The first problem is that everyone has a different view of merit. It is hard to get a large group to agree on an objective standard of what constitues merit.

The second problem is that meritocracy is more of a philosophy of government than an actual system of government. Any type of government can claim to be a meritocracy. For example, in a democracy, if all voters based their vote on the merits of the candidates (which they do, they just all have different standards of merit), then a democracy would be a "meritocracy," because the people with the most merit would rule. Likewise, if merit were thought to be hereditary, then a monarchy could be called a "meritocracy" if they choose the original monarch based on merit.

Anyway, can you please be more specific on exactly what type of meritocracy that we're trying to institute here? :confused:
 
Well, my opinion is that a "pure" meritocracy is ASB due to oustide influences (rich parents pay for their kids to be tought how to pass the exams, etc.). A system that attempts to be a meritocracy could have its roots in an absolute monarchy like China, or conversely, if we significantly alter the philosophical development of Europe somehow, the rallying cry of the anti-aristocracy is not the "rule of the people" but the "rule of the most able", after incompetent rule by an oligarchy. It would probably have a very egalitarian streak, with heavy focus on an "equal start". No idea how the this philosophy would become dominant, though.
 

Susano

Banned
Oh, god:rolleyes:
Meritocracy must be the most overwanked concept in existance. What IS a meritocracy, even? Its not even a problem iof implementing it, its a problem of finding one. Who WOULD decide who is worthy, who has merits? In a way, we already DO live in a meritocracy, where the people has a whole decide who has merits!
 
Oh, god:rolleyes:
Meritocracy must be the most overwanked concept in existance. What IS a meritocracy, even? Its not even a problem iof implementing it, its a problem of finding one. Who WOULD decide who is worthy, who has merits? In a way, we already DO live in a meritocracy, where the people has a whole decide who has merits!

Confucian civil servants, of course.
 
Oh, god:rolleyes:
Meritocracy must be the most overwanked concept in existance. What IS a meritocracy, even? Its not even a problem iof implementing it, its a problem of finding one. Who WOULD decide who is worthy, who has merits? In a way, we already DO live in a meritocracy, where the people has a whole decide who has merits!

An AI supercomputer! Maybe, one day...
 
of course. Still, that means the problem of "Who judges the merits?" is basically un-passable.

I dunno. There are plenty of civil services around the world, or self-regulating associations, like the Bar...

Oh, I see your point.

Actually, I could see it coming out of a strange Napoleonic state: A meritocratic elite, shuffling between Bordeaux, Warsaw, and Torino, based upon how you did in the lycees... Hrm.
 

Sachyriel

Banned
Service Guarantees Citizenship!

Meritocracy is the form of government where, though nearly as impossible as Anarchy or Communism to achieve, if you're good and exert the effort, you're allowed to participate in decisions. Most of the time you are allowed anyways. Obviously, some will slip through the cracks, and either end up voting through they lucked out and got in though they weren't supposed to, or screwed up and weren't allowed to try again. Hey, no society is perfect, we can all see that.

So, the society of the world as a single Meritocratic government would be pretty hard to imagine. Why? Because mistakes happen and sometimes the wrong people get into high places. History has hundred of examples of people who lie, cheat and steal because it's easier than working hard to prove yourself. Because of this, many people accept the fact that people lie, cheat and steal and do it themselves. This adds to the problem, magnificently, because now, with everyone lying, cheating and stealing, the system is fully integrated into itself. Meritocracy would be hard, because it's all work, until you die, and then no one cares because your death merits nothing to their society except the possibility of person with less merit to take your place.

Meritocracy wouldn't work in our lifestyle because we do have these social bonds that are hard to break, our friends and family who we think get a bit of extra merit because they're nice to us sometimes. It's true, they get merit in our eyes, but they're not nice to everyone. To get meritocracy, you need a system to weed out people who just don't try hard enough to actually be worth supporting so they can try again. This system works well in Basic Training for the army: You try and try, and if you're satisfactory, they begin training you to hone your skills, supporting you to be greater and add to the ability of the entire group.

If you've ever seen Starship Troopers you might know the phrase "Service Guarantees Citizenship!". This says that if you work hard and aren't tossed aside by death or you're own lazy idiocy, you'll probably be allowed into the elite club known as 'Citizens'. This system works because it assumes when you're born, you have not earned any merit at all (which is kinda true, the biggest merit we have when we're born is that we might be cute and cuddly). When you try to earn your merit, you're not going to earn from a reference to your friends and family or your high School Diploma, you get it through proving that you want to better not only yourself, but the entire body politic as well. For the movies, this means grabbing a gun and some shoddy armour and going to kill giant bugs, or flying a few thousand tonnes of steel around space, though other options are available.

If Meritocracy were to become prevalent in the world you need to smash 'A Brave New World' with 'Starship Troopers' together (Social Engineers who think everyone can be lifted up against Veterans who know only those who sacrificed in service truly value personal choice). Then, and only then, will the culture begin to change to see that maybe people aren't more special than other animals, and we can't give ourselves rights we haven't earned. These rights would be things like the Right to Vote, the Right to run for Public Office, the Right to Self-Defence, and the Right to Mobility (around the nation, to live in any city). Meritocracy would require the personal sacrifice in order to prove that you have learnt your place and how much choice costs before you're allowed to vote with people who have done this to change how you allow people who want to do this to get in. Hopefully Starship Troopers wins, because if a bunch of psychologists and social workers beat battle-hardened veterans then that world is doomed!

roflbotcypzfy3.jpg
 
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