Jury Theorem since June 1844
Posted: Sun Sep 30, 2012 10:33 pm
Yesterday, in doing some refresher research on Aristotle's Politics, I incidentally became reacquainted with Condorcet's 'jury theorem'. It is basically that the decision of a group is more reliable because the unreasonable whims that anyone person might have will be moderated out of the group's decision. Those in the group that do not share that quirk will reject it, and what will be left will be a distillation of wisdom. The group dynamic will smooth out all the rough edges of the individual thoughts, and the product will be more refined and more reliable.
Until JSJr's murder on 6/27/1844, he was basically an autocratic ruler of Mormonism (cf. the rejection by the membership of JSJr's bid to have Sidney Rigdon ousted from the FP). In power vacuum following his murder, the 12 (headed by BY) eventually emerged as the successor leadership recognized by most of the Mormons. Since that time, revelations received by prophets have only been accepted as such if agreed to by the FP counselors and the 12. It seems that for purposes of vetting what god is truly revealing to the prophet, or not, it requires the other 14's concurrence. To-wit: the 1978 revelation on opening up Mormon priesthood to worthy black males.
It seems that since JSJr, the Mormon god has not wanted to trust what his hand picked mouthpiece might proclaim to the Saints as having come from Mormon god. Too much opportunity for 'talking as a man' in that. So, it seems that Mormon god has chosen to employ Condorcet's jury theorem to better assure that the only thing that emanates as a 'revelation' has been agreed to as such by all 15. That way, no rough edges to worry about.
Of course, there are blips in any check and balance, as evidenced by the 1949 FP statement that the black priesthood ban was due to a revelation from, indeed, was commanded, by Mormon god.
Until JSJr's murder on 6/27/1844, he was basically an autocratic ruler of Mormonism (cf. the rejection by the membership of JSJr's bid to have Sidney Rigdon ousted from the FP). In power vacuum following his murder, the 12 (headed by BY) eventually emerged as the successor leadership recognized by most of the Mormons. Since that time, revelations received by prophets have only been accepted as such if agreed to by the FP counselors and the 12. It seems that for purposes of vetting what god is truly revealing to the prophet, or not, it requires the other 14's concurrence. To-wit: the 1978 revelation on opening up Mormon priesthood to worthy black males.
It seems that since JSJr, the Mormon god has not wanted to trust what his hand picked mouthpiece might proclaim to the Saints as having come from Mormon god. Too much opportunity for 'talking as a man' in that. So, it seems that Mormon god has chosen to employ Condorcet's jury theorem to better assure that the only thing that emanates as a 'revelation' has been agreed to as such by all 15. That way, no rough edges to worry about.
Of course, there are blips in any check and balance, as evidenced by the 1949 FP statement that the black priesthood ban was due to a revelation from, indeed, was commanded, by Mormon god.