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I'm assuming there would be a time limit on getting them out Isaac Send a noteboard - 28/02/2013 10:55:45 PM

View original postI don't entirely agree with Isaac to the extent that (I'm assuming there is this one vote per person limit) I think there likely would be considerable amounts bid for not merely the first, but the first so many seats. But of course that does depend on how fast it all goes. If you're auctioning them off at a rate of only one per day, well, then obviously the sums bid will be high because most people will effectively never get a seat. If you do it one per hour, in order to accord at least some bare minimum of time for a genuine auction to take place, you're still only looking at a couple thousand seats per year, meaning one will still have to fork out some serious cash to win a seat. And at one minute auctions, which off the top of my head means somewhat more than half a million a year, it'll still take a good number of years before the ones not willing to spend any cash get their seats, although I'm guessing the prices would rapidly drop to affordable levels soon enough then, especially for those buying theirs in the middle of the night.

View original postAlso, how soon would those who already have their seats be allowed to convene, how many members would they need to pass binding laws? Would they be able to stop the auction process cold, and bar any later buyers from entry, at a certain point?

View original postIt definitely is an amusing thought experiment.

View original postEdit: To correct a slight (ahem) miscalculation.

One assumes there'd be a transition phase while all this was designed and implemented and sold or at a minimum a certain number would have to be sold to reach quorum. I know assumptions aren't great ideas in what is already a pretty improbable case but still...

One is working on a timeline since things need to keep going and 300 million seats being auctioned sequentially would require 10 per second be sold in under a year, even population birth-death values would keep that number rising at faster than one a minute after that. So presumably you'd either number them and auction them all off simultaneously on vot-eBay or in lots at a rate that allowed the boards of elections to verify the buyer was an actual qualified person owning no others. A one year transition where roughly a million went up every day would probably do the trick.

If people wanted live auctions, and it were limit one per customer, you could divide all or most of them into each of the roughly 3000 US counties, then let each board of elections handle their average 100,000 each. They could actually auction the things off classically in under a year without having to do it 365/24/7. I could see turning it into a bit of a fundraiser that way, at least for the cool numbers, or at least at the bake sale level, but if it is one per customer as long as the number of votes paralleled or exceeded the number of people who might be willing to buy one at all you're never going to have a real market for them except the 'hey, first eight digits of pi!' or '04-7-1776! $10,000 for independence day!' novelty ones.

I could actually see this working more effectively and more morally if you handed every 18 year old (or whatever) a serial-numbered token coin good for 60 years at a 78 year life expectancy card which they could then re-sell or not as they saw fit, coin goes into machine, vote screen comes up. That might actually make an amusing short story, slightly cyberpunk mildly dystopian setting, exploring how the vote tokens might turn into the new currency with mili-vote through mega-vote denominations and the means of federal taxation via issuance. hmmm...

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A weird little thought experiment about auctioning off three hundred million Senate seats. Burr - 27/02/2013 07:49:48 PM 554 Views

Depends on if it is limit one per customer Isaac - 27/02/2013 11:40:39 PM 265 Views

Pretty much what Isaac said. Joel - 28/02/2013 03:16:39 PM 248 Views

A lot will have to do with how fast you sell the lot. Legolas - 28/02/2013 08:34:52 PM 263 Views

I'm assuming there would be a time limit on getting them out Isaac - 28/02/2013 10:55:45 PM 272 Views

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<quote id="273329"><quote id="273326">I don't entirely agree with Isaac to the extent that (I'm assuming there is this one vote per person limit) I think there likely would be considerable amounts bid for not merely the first, but the first so many seats. But of course that does depend on how fast it all goes. If you're auctioning them off at a rate of only one per day, well, then obviously the sums bid *will* be high because most people will effectively never get a seat. If you do it one per hour, in order to accord at least some bare minimum of time for a genuine auction to take place, you're still only looking at a couple thousand seats per year, meaning one will still have to fork out some serious cash to win a seat. And at one minute auctions, which off the top of my head means somewhat more than half a million a year, it'll still take a good number of years before the ones not willing to spend any cash get their seats, although I'm guessing the prices would rapidly drop to affordable levels soon enough then, especially for those buying theirs in the middle of the night. </quote></quote>

<quote id="273329"><quote id="273326">Also, how soon would those who already have their seats be allowed to convene, how many members would they need to pass binding laws? Would they be able to stop the auction process cold, and bar any later buyers from entry, at a certain point? </quote></quote>

<quote id="273329"><quote id="273326">It definitely is an amusing thought experiment. </quote></quote>

<quote id="273329"><quote id="273326">Edit: To correct a slight (ahem) miscalculation. </quote></quote>

<quote id="273329">One assumes there'd be a transition phase while all this was designed and implemented and sold or at a minimum a certain number would have to be sold to reach quorum. I know assumptions aren't great ideas in what is already a pretty improbable case but still...</quote>

<quote id="273329">One is working on a timeline since things need to keep going and 300 million seats being auctioned sequentially would require 10 per second be sold in under a year, even population birth-death values would keep that number rising at faster than one a minute after that. So presumably you'd either number them and auction them all off simultaneously on vot-eBay or in lots at a rate that allowed the boards of elections to verify the buyer was an actual qualified person owning no others. A one year transition where roughly a million went up every day would probably do the trick. </quote>

<quote id="273329">If people wanted live auctions, and it were limit one per customer, you could divide all or most of them into each of the roughly 3000 US counties, then let each board of elections handle their average 100,000 each. They could actually auction the things off classically in under a year without having to do it 365/24/7. I could see turning it into a bit of a fundraiser that way, at least for the cool numbers, or at least at the bake sale level, but if it is one per customer as long as the number of votes paralleled or exceeded the number of people who might be willing to buy one at all you're never going to have a real market for them except the 'hey, first eight digits of pi!' or '04-7-1776! $10,000 for independence day!' novelty ones.</quote>

<quote id="273329">I could actually see this working more effectively and more morally if you handed every 18 year old (or whatever) a serial-numbered token coin good for 60 years at a 78 year life expectancy card which they could then re-sell or not as they saw fit, coin goes into machine, vote screen comes up. That might actually make an amusing short story, slightly cyberpunk mildly dystopian setting, exploring how the vote tokens might turn into the new currency with mili-vote through mega-vote denominations and the means of federal taxation via issuance. hmmm... :P</quote>

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