[HN Gopher] How to Polis, 101, Part IIb: Archons
       ___________________________________________________________________
        
       How to Polis, 101, Part IIb: Archons
        
       Author : gostsamo
       Score  : 29 points
       Date   : 2023-03-28 14:16 UTC (8 hours ago)
        
 (HTM) web link (acoup.blog)
 (TXT) w3m dump (acoup.blog)
        
       | skybrian wrote:
       | I found this article a bit dry compared to his usual writing.
       | What do you find interesting about it?
        
         | JumpCrisscross wrote:
         | _Historia Civilis_ has a YouTube series on the constitutions of
         | Athens and Sparta that describe their protodemocratic and
         | democratic mechanisms.
         | 
         | More broadly, I've always found two classes sorely missing from
         | our required public education diet: basics of law, and the
         | history of republics.
        
         | gostsamo wrote:
         | I don't know how you intended for your comment to sound, but on
         | my side it looks like that you _demand_ from me to explain
         | myself.
         | 
         | Ignoring that, the article is yet another window in to the
         | past. You can enjoy it as an informational piece. Or if you
         | want to apply some of its lessons to the present day, you can
         | compare it with some of the contemporary attempts at building
         | decentralized organizations. If none of these options appeal to
         | you nor any other, just skip it, HN is not lacking on other
         | content.
        
           | skybrian wrote:
           | I asked because I read it earlier and I'm actually curious
           | what other people liked about it. Maybe I missed something?
           | Someone shared it and other people upvoted it.
        
             | gostsamo wrote:
             | Well, I shared it, so the "you" felt a bit personal. :)
        
           | jvanderbot wrote:
           | Standard conversation prompt. I wouldn't overthink it.
        
       | ogogmad wrote:
       | David Graeber argued that 21st century democracy is not directly
       | based on any ancient model, including any Greek one. You'll
       | notice how the Greeks didn't have any permanent civil service*.
       | You'll notice how they kept slaves. You'll also notice how they
       | didn't have much resembling our notion of civil liberties,
       | including free speech: Otherwise, on what grounds was Socrates
       | murdered?
       | 
       | * - We might partially have borrowed this from China.
        
         | qsort wrote:
         | This sounds like an incredibly obvious observation?
         | 
         | Modern liberal democracy comes from the revolutions in the 17th
         | and 18th centuries. Greek poleis were at most an inspiration,
         | like the ancient Olympics for the modern ones.
        
           | ogogmad wrote:
           | Fair. He actually had the more radical idea that "Western"
           | democracy owes a lot to pre-Columbus America.
        
       ___________________________________________________________________
       (page generated 2023-03-28 23:01 UTC)