What can you do when experts can't be trusted? Draw lots.
This episode examines an ancient practice that has become trendy once again: the old-but-new idea of “sortition,” or selecting representatives by lottery. Sortition was used in ancient Athenian democracy to elect public officials. It is also undergoing a revival today as tech companies (like Meta) and AI startups (like OpenAI and Anthropic) use the method to tackle some of their thorniest policymaking challenges.
We're joined by political scientists Bailey Flanigan (Harvard now, MIT next year) and Andrew Hall (Stanford). In this episode, we discuss why not to rely exclusively on expert authority, how the process of deliberation changes people’s minds, and how sortition can apply everywhere from the governance of countries to the governance of crypto projects, and more.
As a reminder, none of the content should be taken as investment, business, legal, or tax advice. Please see a16z.com/disclosures for more important information, including a link to a list of our investments.
