DA constitution - Draft

[Neike Taika-Tessaro]

Second draft (patchwork for reference only) -

We, the founders of Dark Arcadia, recognize the Merit of the Individual above all else, and acting upon the desire to be governed and govern by Merit, do hereby state the founding principles of the Nation of Dark Arcadia. Be it known to all that we believe Merit to be the only sustainable form for the Government and Organization of Humankind, that the individual has the ability to submit themself to the leadership of those most qualified, and that by so doing, ensures success and prosperity for themselves and others. As such, we do organize ourselves to this belief under the following Core Principles:

§1 Individuality

(1) An individual is a verifiable, self-aware consciousness.

[Neike Taika-Tessaro]

Third draft (red denotes what needs serious reworking by me - I will try to post a fourth draft tomorrow, which will then be open to new discussion, or will pass as a constitution if no input is made for a further week (placeholder responses ("I object - details later") are permitted)) -



We, the founders of Dark Arcadia, recognize the Merit of the Individual above all else, and acting upon the desire to be governed and govern by Merit, do hereby state the founding principles of the Nation of Dark Arcadia. Be it known to all that we believe Merit to be the only sustainable form for the Government and Organization of Humankind, that the individual has the ability to submit themself to the leadership of those most qualified, and that by so doing, ensures success and prosperity for themselves and others. As such, we do organize ourselves to this belief under the following Core Principles:

§1 Individuality

(1) An individual is a self-aware consciousness, verifiable in that it can pass the Turing test. (2) A consciousness may be carried by any entity, biological, mechanical or electronic. (3) Once an individual has been recognized, the entity in which said individual resides does not affect the status of the individual. (4) An individual cannot be denied privileges or citizenship within Dark Arcadia based solely on the nature of the entity in which said consciousness is contained. (5) An individual's familial ties are defined via the vessel the individual mainly resides in.

§2 Maturity

(1) Maturity is a label for the Individual's height of awareness of the environment and understanding of complex systems, and is attainable by any Individual. (2) It is attained between the eighth (exclusive) and twenty-first (inclusive) years of life, and attributed to the individual solely by it's social mentors. (3) When applied, the state is obligated to recognise the label, and treat the Individual as a Mature Individual.

§3 Social Mentor

(1) A social mentor is an individual who has taken it upon themselves to raise and nurture another, primarily in educating and secondarily in physical care. (2) An individual's social mentors default to those individuals who are considered their father and mother. (3) Disputes regarding mentorship must be resolved by the nation's Judiciary. (4) The Judiciary must use the psychological evaluation of the individuals to determine the best social mentor, and favour the individual who is best grounded in Arcadian philisophical principles.

§4 Citizenship

(1) An individual is a Citizen if the following conditions are met: (a) The individual must be considered Mature in accordance with Section 2, (b) The citizenship application must be properly submitted and approved by the proper Dark Arcadian authority, and (c) The individual has not been previously rejected for citizenship. (2) There are no other prerequisites for Citizenship. (3) The application, once submitted, does not expire. (4) The application contains a psychological evaluation test, the taking of which is subject to a time limit. (5) An individual may apply for citizenship only once, and may not resubmit the application. (6) The nation is obligated to recognize the name by which their new citizen referred to themselves in the application. (7) The individual is not required to submit the application within any time limit. (8) The nation is required to process the application within a month of receiving it.

§5 Government

(1) Each Citizen is obliged to heed the commands of those who outrank it in natural hierarchy. (2) A natural hierarchy is ordered by those with most merit situated at its top. (3) The Citizen at the top of this hierarchy may call itself Archon.

§6 Nation

(1) Our Nation is defined as the Mature Individuals subjecting themselves to the Government as described in §5. (2) The Nation is obliged to serve its Citizens.

§7 Property

(1) Every Individual has the right to their own property. (2) It may not be taken from them or damaged without their consent. (3) It is the government's responsibility to protect the property of each Individual. (4) It is the government's responsibility to protect the Individual's right to do what they please with their property.

[Neike Taika-Tessaro]

This is being delayed a while by my mood and schedule, it seems. Sorry about that.

[Neike Taika-Tessaro]

Final draft (from my side):

We, the founders of Dark Arcadia, recognize the Merit of the Individual above all else, and acting upon the desire to be governed and govern by Merit, do hereby state the founding principles of the Nation of Dark Arcadia. Be it known to all that we believe Merit to be the only sustainable form for the Government and Organization of Humankind, that the individual has the ability to submit themself to the leadership of those most qualified, and that by so doing, ensures success and prosperity for themselves and others. As such, we do organize ourselves to this belief under the following Core Principles:

§1 Individuality

(1) An individual is a self-aware consciousness, verifiable in that it can pass the Turing test. (2) A consciousness may be carried by any entity, biological, mechanical or electronic. (3) Once an individual has been recognized, the entity in which said individual resides does not affect the status of the individual. (4) An individual cannot be denied privileges or citizenship within Dark Arcadia based solely on the nature of the entity in which said consciousness is contained. (5) An individual's familial ties are defined via the vessel the individual mainly resides in.

§2 Maturity

(1) Maturity is a label for the Individual's height of awareness of the environment and understanding of complex systems, and is attainable by any Individual. (2) It is attained between the eighth (exclusive) and twenty-first (inclusive) years of life, and attributed to the individual solely by it's social mentors. (3) When applied, the state is obligated to recognise the label, and treat the Individual as a Mature Individual.

§3 Social Mentor

(1) A social mentor is an individual who has taken it upon themselves to raise and nurture another, primarily in educating and secondarily in physical care. (2) An individual's social mentors default to those individuals who are considered their father and mother. (3) Disputes regarding mentorship must be resolved by the nation's Judiciary. (4) The Judiciary must use the psychological evaluation of the individuals to determine the best social mentor, and favour the individual who is best grounded in Arcadian philisophical principles.

§4 Citizenship

(1) An individual is a Citizen if the following conditions are met: (a) The individual must be considered Mature in accordance with Section 2, (b) The citizenship application must be properly submitted and approved by the proper Dark Arcadian authority, and (c) The individual has not been previously rejected for citizenship. (2) There are no other prerequisites for Citizenship. (3) The application, once submitted, does not expire. (4) The application contains a psychological evaluation test, the taking of which is subject to a time limit. (5) An individual may apply for citizenship only once, and may not resubmit the application. (6) The nation is obligated to recognize the name by which their new citizen referred to themselves in the application. (7) The individual is not required to submit the application within any time limit. ( The nation is required to process the application within a month of receiving it.

§5 Government

(1) The legislative branch is defined as follows: (i) Each Citizen is obliged to heed the laws passed by those who outrank it in natural hierarchy. (ii) A natural hierarchy is ordered by those with most merit situated at its top. (iii) The Citizen at the top of this hierarchy may call itself Archon.

(2) The executive branch is defined as follows: (i) Every Citizen has the obligation to prevent the escape of other Citizens from judicial trial and judicial decisions.

(3) The judicial branch is defined as follows: (i) In disputes, all involved parties must either decide and agree on a judge to try them, (ii) or one who outranks the highest ranking involvee is appointed judge. (iii) If disputes involve the Archon, the Archon must subject himself to the decision of judge of the other involvees. (iv) During a dispute with the Archon, new laws may not be passed. (v) A judge must always be uninvolved.

§6 Nation

(1) Our Nation is defined as the Mature Individuals subjecting themselves to the Government as described in §5. (2) The Nation is obliged to serve its Citizens.

§7 Property

(1) Every Individual has the right to their own property. (2) It may not be taken from them or damaged without their consent. (3) It is the government's responsibility to protect the property of each Individual. (4) It is the government's responsibility to protect the Individual's right to do what they please with their property.

[Whit Porter]

I like the final draft, no objections that I can think of with any of the wording

[Neike Taika-Tessaro]

Just as a head's up, Leiren got back to me via Y!M and didn't object. She said she was going to write a bit more about it at next opportunity, but I thought I'd write it here so the info isn't lost.

Given the opportunity, I would like to make a comment about the judicial 'branch':

The Archon is handled seperately not so the meritocratic system can be undermined, but because the Archon is the highest in rank, so §5, 3, ii cannot apply, and §5, 3, i is dependant on consensus. This would mean that if one wanted to evade a judicial ruling as an Archon, one would simply have to constantly disagree about the judge as by §5, 3, i.

Since it's favourable to define which side gives up their right to appoint judge, to avoid disputes about even that (and get stuck in an infinite loop ), and the Archon is always one person, but disputes may be with anything from one person to the whole of Dark Arcadia, decision was to let the Archon be the unlucky one.

[Neike Taika-Tessaro]

I made an edit to the last two constitution drafts because I actually put in something that I didn't mean to put in in the first place. I'll try and grab y'all on for a feedback.

[Neike Taika-Tessaro]

Whit and I are currently somewhat agreeing that parts of the consitution should be protected from tampering.

I'm thinking of allowing only a two-thirds majority vote of all Citizens change §5 and §6 (and §8, which will deal with this protection), but not only does that introduce an element of democracy, but also stops the government system from falling apart if it should expire naturally, which would make the experiment of the longevity of meritocracy less easily resolved.

At the same time, just having the Archon rewrite the constitution to declare himself dictator of the nation (or the nation democratic, or whatnot) seems a fairly lame way to end it all, too.

Whit thinks the two-thirds majority vote is the lesser of the two evils and I'm currently unsure, swayed neither way. I'm going to speak with Duvessa on Y!M later about it, and then maybe finally finalise the constitution.

[Neike Taika-Tessaro]

Another thing. I changed the constitution that previously dealt with the halting problem to one dealing with the Turing test (which was my original intention). However, it's brought up an interesting thought of combining the two, as either doesn't really suffice:

- the Turing test can be failed by people who have language deficits, or are otherwise not proficient with verbal communication (written or spoken), but who might still be notably conscious.
- the halting problem isn't solvable by humans. It is, however, "more solvable" by humans than by computers.

To explain: The Halting Problem is the problem of finding out whether a given algorithm (=program) halts. To illustrate the point:

[Neike Taika-Tessaro]

Endlessly fun: http://www.scottaaronson.com/writings/bignumbers.html

[Neike Taika-Tessaro]

Tien is having Y!M problems, unfortunately - I've been unable to reach her the past two days, despite both of us being online simultaneously. *kicks Y!M*

[Tien Singh]

YIM and Internet issues, unfortunatly. The DSL here hates horrid weather and the wireless router is just as bad. And we just got around to securing out network since the neighbors were using it