Our Platform for Outlining Colorado’s Future

In a 1949 speech at the University of California, Berkeley, Robert Oppenheimer stressed the value of openness and questioned the wisdom of confrontational foreign policies. He believed these principles could be the bedrock for a more rational and effective political system. Given the backdrop of the Cold War and the heightened tension between the U.S. and the Soviet Union, Oppenheimer's call for openness and collaboration was remarkably prescient. He also noted that openness alone isn't sufficient to address the world's complexities. Oppenheimer said, "The challenges of navigating the subtle, the intricate, and the unknown aren't just political; they span science, daily life, and even art. The solution often lies in 'style,' which balances assertiveness with restraint and humility, enabling effective rather than absolute action. In foreign policy, style helps us align our core objectives with differing viewpoints." Oppenheimer, as a scientist advocatin...

Democracy’s Mighty Arsenal To counter disinformation, let's extend the democratic principles of Wikipedia across platforms. We'll crowdsource cost-benefit analysis and conflict resolution, turning anger into constructive dialogue. Fighting external trolls will also defeat our internal trolls and help us break Free from Bias The following approach that links conclusion strength to evidence strength automagically destroys my-side bias and confirmation bias because it removes arguments from feelings and uses evidence to "weigh" conclusions: Here's how: 1.        Isolating Each Belief: Evaluate each belief on its unique page, like Wikipedia, focusing on the evidence for and against it. This will keep the topic from changing. 2.        Linking Related Beliefs: Enhance collective understanding by analyzing interconnections between ideas and gauging their strengths and weaknesses. Putting similar ways of saying the same th...

A widely accepted maxim of good decision-making is not mixing your values and facts. Once you have gathered all your facts, you can use your values to select between them. However, this is why lady justice uses a blindfold when determining the facts. That is the problem with Fox News and CNN. We don’t have different values now but different (so-called) facts. When discussing the world, we need to identify the facts without hopes, fears or fit the world into pre-written stories about how we are angels and those who disagree are stupid or evil. When designing an elevator, you might be afraid your new design is too weak, hoping it is much better. However, you must run tests to determine what its actual capacity is. Then you can use your values, which want you to have a significant safety factor, to make a statement about its maximum load. You wouldn’t start this process by selling the elevator without running a test to ensure its capacity is accurate and that you have a significant safety...

Framework for Balanced Political Discourse and Decision-Making I. The Challenge of Political Dogma Dogmatic thinking—applying single truths without considering counterbalancing principles—poses a significant obstacle to effective political discourse and problem-solving. It oversimplifies complex issues, ignores context, and resists critical examination. A. Characteristics of Dogmatic Thinking Applies single truths without considering counterbalancing principles. Oversimplifies complex issues into one-dimensional solutions. Ignores the context-dependent nature of political solutions. Resists questioning or examination of core beliefs. B. The Current Political Landscape: Fostering Dogma Our current media and political structures often exacerbate dogmatic thinking. The Media Environment:  The time-based broadcast model lacks depth and context, prioritizing engagement and emotional reactions over reasoned analysis and understanding. It also lacks effective feedback mechanisms, f...