Evaluating the potential quality of parliamentary candidates via realistic strategy game environments
By David Corne
Politicians routinely gravitate towards positions of significant influence and responsibility, despite limited or absent experience in managing highly complex systems such as sociteies.. In these positions, they influence (or make) decisions and policies, using reasoning based on a combination of limited information, personal political leanings, personal ambitions, and often limited understanding. By the time this power has already been wielded, it is typically too late to recover from mistakes.I propose that prospective members of pariliaments be evaluated - before being allowed into a position of power - by their performance in a series of challenging scenarios provided by a complex and realistic government strategy game. Think 'SimCity', but with emphases on data-rich simulations of prevailing economic, health, education and other systems. Following perhaps two or three weeks of this, a prospective parliamentary candidate would emerge with a performance profile, available to the public, as a reference point for potential voters.
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