1 - What is an open source paper?
For us at Democracy Earth Foundation how a paper is made is almost as important as its content. Our belief in democracy means we believe that human collaboration is the best possible way to arrive at great solutions, therefore our project is written as an open source paper - a document where anyone is free to contribute. It is published under an open source license and we welcome contributions from anyone as we aim for this document to be a living roadmap for planetary governance. Democracy is always a work in progress, and so is our work: The social smart contract is a living document that will be constantly updated and amended.
2 - How can I contribute?
For the purposes of our Initial Rights Offering all collaborations are encouraged between September 1st and October 10th. We are utilizing Github as it does a great job at documenting the entire process of contributions. For more detailed information please refer to the CONTRIBUTING file of this repository.
3 - How is an Intial Rights Offering different from an Initial Coin Offering?
Our token Vote will be granted as a right to every human being by means of a Universal Basic Income, and it will have decision making as its primary function. In adittion to that it will be possible to access the vote token through a financial mechanism and use it as an asset like any other crypto holding released through an Initial Coin Offering. The funds will be directed towards the construction of a transnational network that will act in accordance to the personal sovereignty of its members and protect their human rights with encryption.
4 - What is "liquid democracy"?
Liquid democracy is a combination of direct democracy and representative democracy:
In direct democracy everyone votes on every issue.
In representative democracy we choose other people to represent us.
Liquid democracy combines both to allow the voter to make decisions on the matters he/she cares about, and delegate votes when there is someone that he/she trusts and considers to be more knowledgeable on the matter. A good way to think about it, is that we already live in liquid democracy, but it's frozen: we can't change our vote for a certain period of time, only when there is a new election. Representative democracy was the best that Nation-states could do with the technology of the time, but the internet and blockchain technologies allow us to do better now, permitting each voter to customize the extent of his participation.
5 - Will digital elections increase voter particpation?
Low voter turnout is closely linked to the decrease in trust on our current democratic institutions, or the perception that one individual vote can't effectively alter the course of things. Being an incorrutible platform, on Sovereign each individual participation truly matters and is counted for. Our mission is to strengthen democracy by opening up more effective ways of participating, which Sovereign accomplishes. The greatest impact will not necessarily be to make governments more democratic, but any kind and size of institution, whether public or private, more engaging.
6 - Is voter fraud easier when voters vote by mobile phone? How does blockchain technology enable incorruptible decision-making?
The advances on crypthography and distributed ledger technology enable incorruptible decision-making because after a vote is registered it can never be altered, making virtual blockchain-based votes immensely superior to analogue votes in terms of fraud prevention. Additionally, this technology enables all members of the organization to audit the votes.
7 - What is a vote token?
A vote token is what users will utilize to cast their decisions in organizations that operate with liquid democracy. It also works as any other crypto asset and its value is connected to the penetration of decentralized decision making within society.
8 - How do I get vote tokens?
Vote tokens can be obtained at a financial cost, based on its current market value, in exchange for Bitcoin and Ether. Adittionally, every validated identity will receive a Universal Basic Income of votes as a granted right. In order to learn more about the process of validation please refer to section 3.3 Proof of Identity .
9 - Can I sell or give away my vote tokens?
Yes - the tokens are tradable and transferable as any other crypto holding.
10 - What does a vote token have to do with Universal Basic Income?
True sovereignty cannot be achieved in an environment of induced scarcity. In order to effectively promote democracy, it is essential then to address both the political and economic realms. For that reason we are turning governance rights into a liquid instrument and issuing it as a right granted to every member of society through the mecanism of a Universal Basic Income.
11 - What does self-sovereign mean?
Self-sovereign is anything that is fully under control of itself. Central authorities validade, control and sell data related to others identities. A self-sovereign identity is one that cannot be controlled by central authorities.
12 - Could everyone in the world use Sovereign to vote on the same issue?
Yes. Sovereign is intended for planetary governance as much as it is suitable to be used by an organization consisted of two members.
13 - Does Sovereign exclude people who have no access to video (for the Proof of Identity protocol)?
As of this moment we have not encountered an alternative to the Proof of Identity protocol that does not involve central authorities, but we and the digital hive mind will continue exploring options in order to make Sovereign available to all human kind.
14 - Isn't Open Source too new to be implementable in elections?
Open-source systems are already playing a role in some elections, for example, New Hampshire - USA has used open source software to allow disabled voters to fill out ballots online or on their phones. The counties of Travis (Texas), San Francisco and Los Angeles have budgets in place for open-source voting systems. Many major companies use open-source software including the US Department of Defense.
15. What does planetary jurisdiction mean?
The blockchain knows no borders, it is a transnational technology. Allowing individuals from all nations to cooperate and make decisions together will create a new jurisdiction that encompasses the entire planet. Territorial divisions and the perpetual conflict between Nation-states have led to accelerated climate change, rising inequality, terrorism and forced migrations. Those are global issues that can only be addressed through the cooperation between different parts of the globe, regarding the planet as one jurisdiction towards which all members are equally responsible and entitled to.
16. What is the difference between centralized, decentralized and distributed?
There is a lot of debate about it. For the purposes of our work we aim towards both architectural and political decentralization (or distribution, depending on who you ask). The first concerns the number of computers running the system, and the second concerns how many individuals or organizations controls those computers. Our solution is designed for blockchain networks, which are by nature not controllable by any single organization and have no single point of faillure.
17. What is blockchain technology?
Blockchain technology refers to a database that is held and maintained by a distributed network, therefore being reliable. This database can be programmed to record any type of valuable information within its blocks, and each block is chained to the previous one through cryptographic hashing. The implied security of blockchains dramatically increases trust, allowing peers within the network to operate and transact with each other without the need for intermediators.
18. What does post nation state mean?
19. What is a digital ID?
20. What does a "public key" refer to?
21. What does a "private key" refer to?