SDF Governance Philosophy

Individual scientists are quite different entities from the entity known as the science community. So the individual and the group should have different guiding principles.

The group is always in tension with the individual. In order to exist, a group needs its members to sacrifice their incompatible personal goals to serve the higher goal of the group. At the same time, individuals need the group to give them the power to express their personal goals through the nurturing power of collaboration. A group needs individuals, and individuals need groups. The group has the power to stifle or nurture individuals. Individuals have the power to contribute to or disrupt the group. A healthy group-individual combination has individuals who choose to contribute instead of disrupt, and a group which nurtures its members instead of stifling them.

As one basic example of healthy group/individual behavior, consider the issue of transparency vs. privacy. The ideal individual contributor would use their IRL identity in all their online interactions; on the contrary, the ideal group would protect their members' privacy by providing secure encryption technology to allow people to contribute using pseudonyms without fear of retribution.

When a group governs itself, it is important to continually focus on limiting its natural power to stifle the individual. For individuals to govern themselves, it is important they continually focus on limiting their power to disrupt the group. Occasionally, individuals must disrupt the group; and occasionally, the group must stifle the individual. Those actions are the essence of governance. But they are signals that something is wrong and changes are needed. However, such disruptions and impositions cannot be the norm, or the group will eventually die.

Ideally, laws for personal behavior should be personally chosen, personally enforced, and private. Ideally, laws for group behavior should be group ratified, group enforced, and transparent. Personal laws for personal behavior should be complex and idiosyncratic to each individual. Personal laws for when the individual should disrupt the group should be simple and transparent.

Group laws for group behavior should be short and simple. Group laws limiting the group’s power over the individual should be broad and elaborate.

See Also

Ethical considerations

Transcendent values

Guiding principles