Here is a thought experiment that I found fascinating. It was actually designed by an intellectual back in the 1970's. I will try to find his name for giving honor where due. 

Let's say you have been given the ultimate authority to design a perfect society. How should it function. There have been many efforts over the years that you can learn from. Communism, socialism, utopian societies, socialist democracies and many others; so far none has stood out as a clear win that every country will rush to adopt.

There are only a few rules to this game.

  1. You will be inserted into your society for the rest of your life - as will your family.
  2. You will be randomly assigned to a role that you have created.

For example: let's say you decide to go with an old-fashioned feudal monarchy. Fair enough, they persisted for centuries. According to the rules, you don't get to assign yourself to by King - that would be cheating. Instead, imagine there are 1,000,000 citizens in your society, The odds of you being assigned the King spot is 1 in a million. Not very likely. But, now there were hundred's of thousands of serfs. Odds are you would land up in one of those not-so coveted positions. Ah, just think of spending the rest of your life - and your children too - toiling away every day in the fields for no money. When those rules are applied, it is not very likely you would decide on such a bottom heavy society.  This is when the light bulb goes off.

How do you make a society that would be reasonable for everyone who got assigned randomly. How does our current society stack up against these designs? 

 

Let me know if you come up with something that really works.