%0 Journal Article
%T Consensus and Climate Change
%A Peter Emerson
%J Open Journal of Political Science
%P 155-161
%@ 2164-0513
%D 2023
%I Scientific Research Publishing
%R 10.4236/ojps.2023.132009
%X <span style=\"font-size:10.0pt;font-family:&quot;\">Covid and Climate Change are telling us all that we
have to cooperate. Well we can¡¯t do that very well if, whenever we make
decisions, we are forever voting (¡°for¡± or) <i>¡°against¡±</i> each other! <i>With</i> a system of preferential points
voting, however, people can indeed work <i>with</i> each other. Secondly, life
these days is fairly complex, and in almost every sphere, use is made of
precision instruments: speedometers in cars, altimeters in aircraft,
thermometers in ovens, and so on. These tools are not binary, marked ¡°fast¡± or
¡°slow¡±, ¡°high¡± or ¡°low¡±, ¡°hot¡± or ¡°cold¡±; rather, they are all calibrated, in
kms/hour, metres, degrees, whatever. The one obvious exception is the tool used
in political decision-making, the 2</span><span style=\"font-size:10.0pt;font-family:&quot;\">,</span><span style=\"font-size:10.0pt;font-family:&quot;\">500-year-old majority vote in which opinions are labelled ¡°yes¡± or ¡°no¡±.
There are some precision instruments in which opinions are calibrated in
preferences, but many politicians as we shall see, prefer the blunt <i>binary</i> ballot. Accordingly, this paper reviews some of the historical work done in the
science of social choice. The text first proves that majority voting can be
inaccurate, before then focusing on multi-option, and later preferential-points
voting procedures. This shows that people could indeed cooperate if they agreed
to a multi-option procedure in which can be identified the option <i>with</i> the highest average preference, and
an average, of course, involves everyone (who votes). For decisions to be based
on such a preferential procedure, computers would need to be introduced into
the world¡¯s decision-making chambers, in order to cater for electronic,
multi-option, preferential voting. If this were to happen, it could be that the
political structures of countries which today regard themselves as competitors
if not indeed as opponents, could merge into a commonality, to result in a more
peaceful worldwide milieu, such as is so necessary to tackle the problems of
climate change.</span>
%K Binary Ballots
%K Climate Change
%K Multi-Option Voting
%K Preferential-Points Vot-ing
%K Consensus
%K Modified Borda Count MBC
%U http://www.scirp.org/journal/PaperInformation.aspx?PaperID=124325