Freedom, Rights and Social Software

Abstract

Rohit Parikh suggests that social procedures such as conventions, customs as well as more formalized institutions could be viewed as social software [24,25]. Verifying such procedures could be carried out in as systematic a manner as verifying computer software by computer scientists. The verification is both in terms of their internal workings - they should produce the outcomes desired in the most efficient manner; and comparatively across such procedures to ensure these 'programs' do not contradict or frustrate each other. In the verification of social processes, the social software theorist can make use of the numerous techniques used in the social sciences to analyze social processes mathematically. Indeed, the models of decision theory, social choice theory and game theory not only describe and explain social processes, but they can also be examined normatively to see if the processes are efficient or reach the desired outcomes.