| What | - Stick to the Subject is a social club where people interested in public policy meet in-person across a network of restaurants, cafes, and taverns to discuss the important policy matters of our times at round table discussions called Conversation Sit-Downs.
- Members form Discussion Societies and, over a course of twelve debates, follow an orderly process of independent study, face-to-face discussion, and anonymous, ranked choice voting to put forward their best consensus thinking on policy subjects in the realms of society, culture, technology, the state, and the economy.
- The ideas resulting from these deliberations are added to the results of previous debates to maintain a dynamic public policy platform that remains in continuous development and directly responsive to the democratic process.
- Important: Stick is a humanistic response to the social disfunction of social media and a resistance to the predations of artificial intelligence and robotics on our essential ways of life, including our livelihoods.
- However complex the structure of its idea, the core of Stick is this: open-minded people meeting over food in a comfortable setting for civil conversation on policy matters affecting them all. With a tasty beverage.
| | | | Who | - Stick to the Subject is a companionship of independant thinkers moving policy discourse from the political class to the people; from online to in-person; from rallies and town halls to a network of round table discussions; and from bands of ideological tribes to gatherings of free thinking individuals.
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| Where and When | - Conversation Sit-Downs are hosted in public locations, such as restaurants, which post weekly Schedules of Availability reporting the number of available seats at Stick's reserved tables by day and time.
- The Discussion Society operates during North Carolina's summer, fall, and spring academic terms. The Knowledge Base remains in continuous operation.
| | | | How | - Stick's system has two interrelated operations: in-person Discussion Societies (social art) and an online Knowledge Base (technical craft).
- Discussion Societies are stand-alone series of twelve weekly public policy discussions. Participating members are surveyed on their policy concerns and the top twelve policy subjects become the discussion schedule.
- Week by week participants self-study the policy subjects using their own resources or the Knowledge Base, attend Conversation Sit-Downs to discuss them, and then vote on resolutions toward the policy using ranked choice voting.
- The Knowledge Base is a tool providing information and logistical support for Discussion Societies through member dashboards. Some key features:
- There are no chat rooms or discussion forums. All interaction is face-to-face.
- There are neither links to social media nor any presence on them.
- A.I. is not used in any capacity and its use is condemned as a threat to humanity's best interests.
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