SourceCred Manifesto v1

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This opening is abrupt, which can be off-putting in a number of ways. Providing more context and onramps for readers will make it easier for a broader range of people to engage with the ideas you’re presenting. The two main onramps you need here are:

1. Include a Preamble/Intro

Add a preamble for this section, which might provide the bulk of the preamble for the overall manifesto. In it, declare that you’re using the lens of game theory. Give adequate onroads for people to keep reading even if they aren’t familiar with game theory or are skeptical of game theory. Imagine someone responding “What do they mean capitalism is a game? Life isn’t a game.” or “Here we go again. Another game theory believer who’s been drinking the kool aid without looking critically at game theory, which is an analytical tool not a complete paradigm.” Give them enough to run with you a bit further.

Some other things you could consider mentioning in the preamble:

  • defend your approach: speak to the utility of analyzing things through the lens of game theory
  • acknowledge limitations of this approach and/or limitations of game theory as a whole – things that this analytical lens just can’t grapple with
  • explain why key terms are styled differently – Capitalism, Market, etc. Not all readers will be familiar with this shorthand, which plays a big role in understanding what you’re laying out in this manifesto.

The intro/preamble should also state the motivation of the overall project. These 3 paragraphs from the end of your current draft are a good start for that:

it is time to create a new game to replace Capitalism . As a design requirement, it must be a better game than Capitalism . Its gameplay must not be so unfair and unbalanced. And it must be able to recognize values other than Wealth : values like community, or diversity, or ecological integrity.

However, it is not enough that this game be an ethically better game. It must also be able to outcompete Capitalism .

SourceCred is a prototype of the game that will outcompete Capitalism .

With a bit of re-wording, this would be a nice, concise statement of the overall motivation.

2. Provide Setup for this descriptive section

This section describes capitalism in a way that will be comfortable for people who are familiar with the way game theory is used in certain intellectual spheres but risks sounding strangely strident and reductive to people who don’t actively participate in those worlds. With a few words of explanation you can provide an onroad for some of those other readers.

  1. Tweak the heading of this section to something like Describing Capitalism as a Coordination Game. Indicate that they can read it as a description rather than a declarative argument – you’re saying “try out this way of describing and thinking about capitalism” rather than “this is a complete, definitive assessment of capitalism and its nature”.
  2. Give hints about how to read this kind of description, like “Imagine you’re designing a video game that simulates capitalism with all of its strengths and weaknesses. The goal of this section is to provide a sufficiently complete and accurate description of the parts of Capitalism and the rules that bind them. It attempts to describe those parts and rules accurately, without judgement or criticism. All the analysis and criticism of Capitalism’s strengths and weaknesses are in the following sections, but first we must lay out a description of the thing itself.”
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