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Is there anything in here which isn't obvious? What's the difference between his epistocracy and a technocracy? Does he offer solutions to the obvious problems of such a system - in summary 1) how to keep the masses happy and make them believe the government acts in their long-term interest, 2) allow evaluation and control, avoid abuse of power, 3) what about non-technical, ideological issues?

David I imagine what's obvious depends on your background. It's a philosophy book, not a how-to manual for politicians, so some of your questions are left v…moreI imagine what's obvious depends on your background. It's a philosophy book, not a how-to manual for politicians, so some of your questions are left vague or undefined. I'll attempt to convey what I took from the book:

1) He makes the case that we should only measure the success of a government by how just its decisions and actions are... as if government itself were a tool. This is not how all political philosophers judge governing systems, and he explains why he does so at length. But he doesn't address the stability of a real world implementation of this system. Presumably people at large would find the decisions of epistocracy more just than of democracy, but it's not explored if they would rebel more under than system for feeling a lack of control. He also has many forms of epistocracy listed, including one with universal suffrage + epistocratic veto, which would presumably alleviate that rebellion impulse a bit, since it's very close to judicial review in our current system.

2) He explicitly states that this is a risk, but the goal is not to argue for a perfect form of government, just a better one than our current form of democracy (where vote suppression and even sheer disinterest prevent "true" universal suffrage and give skewed results). If the assessments are demonstrably wrong, we can iterate on them over time. That said, the validity of assessments is outside the scope of the book aside from acknowledging that someone will have to do it, and it will be a thorny issue.

3) Specific issues are not explored in the book, just the framings for making the decisions. I'm not certain what you're referring to here, but assuming you're alluding to "wedge" issues which are less intricately policy oriented and more sheer belief oriented, there is no answer here. The most Brennan might argue is that democracy currently gives everyone a stake in such issues, and inclines them to be enemies as a result. If they were not all given that power, perhaps society would be more harmonious as a result. That said, that's a pretty big inference on my part from the writing.(less)

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