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Comment by Stubbs | Hacker News Reader

"We live in a society absolutely dependent on science and technology and yet have cleverly arranged things so that almost no one understands science and technology. That's a clear prescription for disaster." - Carl Sagan.

It seems he had several different versions of this quote from different publications, but they're all equally applicable.

I am reminded of the fact though that we voted for this! I wonder if any of the other parties, the fringe parties like the Greens or the Pirate Party could do any better?

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> we voted for this

Not really. Claire Perry was elected as Conservative Member of Parliament for the constituency of Devizes in Wiltshire. Devizes has elected a Conservative candidate in every single election since 1924, so running for election there as a Conservative is kind of a formality.

She was then appointed to the position of Parliamentary Private Secretary to Philip Hammond, the Secretary of Defence. My understanding is she has no official position, qualifications, expertise, or mandate with regards to technology, the internet, or children's welfare.

Whilst I agree with you, one should point out that no politicians have the expertise or mandate with regards to technology, the internet, or children's welfare!

> no politicians have the expertise or mandate with regards to technology, the internet

That's easily disproved. This guy is in parliament in Italy:

http://it.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stefano_Quintarelli

He's quite clearly competent with regards to technology and the internet, as even a translated version of that page ought to show.

Is he one of the Grillini?

The five-star movement in Italy seems to have largely rallied via the internet, so I would imagine there should be a few relatively savvy individuals in there.

No, he isn't, he's part of Monti's group.

Indeed. There are probably many more who are highly qualified in many different fields. Qualifications and expertise isn't what gets you the job as a politician. Votes do.

The original post was more jovial than serious.

Lets call it - the only know counter balance to experts running the show. We have a lot of geniuses on Wall Street and Silicon Valley and it hasn't prevented serious meltdowns that have effected millions of people.

Not to mention a law professor in the White House smart enough to interpret the law which ever way is most convenient.

What do we mean by mandate here?

In the US, now and then persons with a technical background turn up in high office, though not always for long or with the best effect: Herbert Hoover (mining engineer), John Glenn (engineer), and Harrison Schmitt (Ph.D. in geology) come to mind.

Children's welfare? It is probably more common for elected politicians to have children than not to. It is true that some of what one hears about their children makes one wonder about the parents' interest or expertise in the matter.

It doesn't really matter how safe a constituency is, there was an election, we voted, this is what we got.

To change that people will have to change the way people vote. Maybe one of the things the next candidate for Devizes can do is campaign on Claire's lack of understanding of technology and the impact that has on her ability to be an MP.

Who is "we". I sure as hell didn't vote for her, and neither did anybody I've ever known. I've never heard of Devizes and never met anybody from there. There's absolutely nothing I could have done to stop her getting elected.

While I agree that this the way to go, I grew up in the neighboring seat and sadly tech issues are never going to get a foothold there due to the demographics and local political class - if you need a pop culture reference, Simon Pegg's Hot Fuzz is a practically a documentary about the area...

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