Political systems

The ratings system, implemented over a community, suggests direct democracy as a natural form of government to complement it. The ratings system is itself a form of voting so it is easy to see how it can be adapted to work as a form of governance. In a sense, it is a form of "open source" decision making. Clearly a direct democracy imposes a burden on its citizens to participate in detailed policy decisions, a cognitive load which may well prove to be too much. Needless to say, with a direct democracy, citizens will have the ability to change their method of governance (say to a representative democracy). But many methods to lessen the cognitive load through technology will also exist.

In some ways, these methods will lead to technocracy, a form of government where experts formulate policy for the common good. This is probably inevitable given the complexity of some issues and since the ratings system will be good at selecting those who are best able to work in given policy domains. If citizens assign their ratings weight to them, they will effectively have the power to make policy for the community. But technocracy also implies tools we give ordinary people to increase their participation in government.

We might note that any political system will hopefully be subject to a political philosophy that places our basic liberties as individuals vis a vis society as the highest goal. The philosophy of John Rawls seems to come closest to achieving this.