On his birthday, Prabhakar shares his attempt to found a community where moral authority doesn't require assuming moral superiority.  Most societies and institutions seem to rest on the illusion that those at the top are intrinsically more "right" than those who follow, typically due to status games based on birth, wealth, education, or expertise. Surprisingly, even followers seem as dependent to the illusion as leaders, perhaps because it allows them to avoid responsibility for many choices.

The alternative is to apply the same sort of "hackability" to leadership as Bruce wanted for systems, by creating a status game around  adaptability to new information, and a willingness to publicize immutable records of past decisions. 

The interesting question for Bruce was whether we can apply this to non-religious communities. Come back next week to find out!

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