Infocracy · a project by Lucjan Izworski
Imagine making decisions about public affairs directly, with the strength of your vote reflecting how much you understand about the issue. Infocracy brings together verified knowledge, accountability and collective decision-making. See how one change leads to an entire political system.
One story · five steps · simply scroll to explore
01 / 05 · A shared decision
The town is choosing a design for a wastewater treatment plant. Five residents vote. Each knows something different about treatment plants. Switch the counting method and see which design wins.
What just changed?
Nobody changed their mind. The counting method changed. Influence is specific to the issue: understanding treatment plants does not give you a stronger voice on everything. On a different subject, these same five people could have entirely different voting weights.
This is a worked example: fictional people and scores, one field of knowledge and equal ethics scores. It illustrates a change in the result; it does not prove that the winning design is the best.
How do we know how much someone understands? ↓02 / 05 · From claims to understanding
Back to the treatment plant. Marek has experience, but years on the job alone do not determine his voting weight. He must demonstrate what he understands. You can do the same — even if you are self-taught.
You choose a field or topic. At the Information Verification Office (UWI), a specialised AI conducts a Socratic dialogue: it asks questions, listens to your answers and follows up. It selects and formulates the questions itself. The conversation takes place in a recorded, supervised setting, without access to unauthorised aids.
Practical skills are assessed by someone with a high level of verified knowledge and ability. A master practitioner assigns a task and checks the work. They vouch for you under their own name; falsely certifying a skill may cost them their right to income from that skill, as well as ethics points.
Your verified results are recorded in your profile as Individual Information Points (IPI). Knowledge, practical skills and ethical conduct are recorded separately. Voting takes account of knowledge relevant to the issue, adjusted for the voter’s ethics score.
The proposal envisages AI trained to assess knowledge and focused exclusively on a chosen field. The author’s requirement is that it should know and understand 100% of that field’s knowledge available in the Tree of Knowledge. This is a design requirement for the proposed examiner, not a statement about the proven capabilities of current models.
03 / 05 · Shared knowledge
Behind the assessment is the Tree of Knowledge: a shared body of interconnected claims accepted as our current approximation of the truth. Its content is determined by the community through votes that account for participants’ knowledge.
This is the principle of Dynamic Truth. We accept the best approximation currently available and can revise it when a better one emerges. All verified infocrats around the world who wish to participate can vote on knowledge: researchers and amateurs alike. Regional borders do not restrict participation.
Follow one idea
A proposal’s journey: from submission to a shared decision.
04 / 05 · Public oversight
Someone submits a proposal to change how an AI operates. The community considers it through an infocratic vote. An approved change defines the AI’s configuration: its tasks, powers and limits.
The AI selects and formulates questions in the field chosen by the person being assessed. Answers are evaluated against the Tree of Knowledge, whose content is determined by the community. People decide the rules under which the examiner operates.
Anyone can submit new knowledge or a better approximation of an existing truth. Acceptance is decided by a vote open to all willing, verified infocrats worldwide, with voting weight reflecting knowledge of the subject. The proposal envisages participation potentially on a scale of millions.
The community sets the AI’s rules, powers and limits by voting on proposals. Knowledge assessment itself is a recorded, supervised dialogue at UWI. Skills are checked by master practitioners who take personal responsibility for their certification; false certification may cost them income from that skill and ethics points.
05 / 05 · From knowledge to everyday life
Knowledge helps us choose a treatment plant. It can also describe how to build it, who has the skills to do so, and who should be paid for an idea that is put to use.
People vote directly on issues. In court, knowledge of the particular case and ethical conduct matter. News media assess claims against shared knowledge.
Explore how the system fits together →Open knowledge and Infocratic Patents make ideas available for use, while micropayments reward their creators. Surpluses from shared, automated production facilities are intended to fund a basic income.
Spend a day in Infocracy →You learn. You verify your knowledge. You help make decisions. You contribute something others can use.
Infocracy is a political system proposed and developed by Lucjan Izworski. The interactions on this website illustrate its principles; they are not an operational system of government. Implementation parameters are intended to be set and revised by the community.
Choose what to explore next ↓Continue exploring
Choose short interactive experiences, a full explanation or the demo. You can return to this story at any time.
Six connected scenes: from a shared decision, through knowledge verification, to payment for an idea. Change the examples and see how one mechanism leads to another.
One small town, a burst pipe, Mr Heniek and Ms Ola. No complicated vocabulary. About 25 minutes.
The complete guideFifteen chapters, each explaining a mechanism, with formulas and exceptions. About 20 minutes.
Summary for professionalsEverything at once, with no hand-holding: the thesis, the mechanism, seven objections and an inventory of what runs and what is only a mock-up. About 8 minutes.
The application through which an infocratic citizen would help govern the country. A tutorial guides you around the screen, and tasks are checked off as you complete them.
Step three, whenever you are ready
You can read about a political system, or experience it. The Infornation Portal is an application demo in which citizens handle the tasks currently carried out on their behalf by administrative offices, parliament, courts and exchanges. The names are introduced inside, just when you need them. A tutorial guides you through the screen step by step.
This is a demo. It sends nothing to a server, creates no accounts, and has no one waiting on the other side. Everything you set stays in your browser and can be cleared with one button.
Open the portal demo →Let’s talk about Infocracy
Write to the author with a question, an argument or a proposal to collaborate. Choose a topic to prepare an email draft.
A standard email link: it opens your email application with a subject and draft already filled in. Nothing is sent without your knowledge, and nothing is saved on our side.
For those ready to explore further
Views showing all the mechanisms at work together, pages devoted to individual topics, and a glossary. Each develops a different part of the story.