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makeitdouble • yesterday at 10:07 PM • 2 replies • view on HN

> What was it, 200 years?

Rant aside, I'm curious where you pin the start of this.

Replies

alecco • yesterday at 10:37 PM

  * Athenian Democracy (c. 508–322 BCE)
  * Roman Republic (c. 509–27 BCE)
  * Dutch Republic (c. 1500?)
  * French and American Revolutions and constitutional monarchies (c. 1770-ish-present?)
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CamperBob2 • yesterday at 10:21 PM

It was known to the Attic Greeks that democracy had a fatal bug: a system that entrusts ultimate authority to the masses will predictably privilege persuasion over knowledge, passion over judgment, and populism over excellence.

It just couldn't be exploited effectively until now. Thanks, Mark and Elon.

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