The Coming of the E-Republic; What Would Plato Say? - By Lance Winslow

[Lance Winslow]

By Lance Winslow

Plato in the Republic commented on how a perfect civilization should run and of course in some regards Plato could be considered a mild socialist. In a perfect utopia his plan and strategy could potentially work and work very well. Unfortunately with all the inter-action of trading partners, currency, economies, culture and governments we see that Plato's perfect republic may not be potentially possible in the present period.

And this brings up another interesting question as our government moves to e-government initiatives. That is to say computer information technology systems running our government. The Coming of the E-Republic; What would Plato say?

This is an interesting philosophical question because it turns conventional wisdom on its head and asks that societies and human civilizations start on a new course and into a brave new world, this of course is scary for it means change. E-Government initiatives will mean a streamlining of our government and a huge potential for efficiency gain.

It will mean getting rid of forms and much of the bureaucracy and probably 90% of the cost of government. All those are great things indeed, but would Plato have approved of instant government changes based on the will of the people and the minds of the E-citizen. After all in a republic you vote for an individual whose integrity you trust to make the decisions for the society.

Will citizens in the future be voting for the best IT system and intrusting that IT system to run human civilizations? I certainly hope this article is of interest and that is has propelled thought. The goal is simple; to help you in your quest to be the best in 2007. I thank you for reading my many articles on diverse subjects, which interest you


By Lance Winslow