How each model solves the same problems
Instead of “democracy versus anarchism”, compare the concrete ways collective problems get solved.
| Question | ✕ | ✕ | ✕ | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| How are decisions made? | Users who are affected by the rules take part in changing them. | State legislature and governor set the dividend through the budget process. | A statutory authority (UIDAI) under the central government sets rules; ministries decide where Aadhaar is required; Parliament legislated in 2016 and 2019.Digital identity | |
| How are conflicts resolved? | Low-cost, local conflict-resolution arenas. | Unknown | Grievance channels at UIDAI and service agencies; constitutional challenges in the Supreme Court, which ruled in 2017 and 2018. | |
| How are public goods funded? | Shared resource maintained by users' contributions, monitored by the community. | Returns of a publicly owned investment fund.Sovereign wealth fund dividend | A universal, low-cost proof of identity used for welfare transfers, financial inclusion and public services. | |
| How is AI used? | Unknown | No documented AI role. | No AI in decision-making as such; automated biometric matching and deduplication decide authentication, and face authentication was added in 2018. | |
| What are the main risks? | Free-riding without monitoring; outside authorities overriding local rules. | Political pressure to use fund earnings for the state budget instead of dividends. | Exclusion through authentication failures, data leaks, surveillance and profiling, weak independent oversight and function creep.CLM-0544 |
This illustrates differences in design; it is not a universal claim about outcomes. Each cell links to mechanisms and the claims behind them.