The President of the World

How did she become the chief executive of the entire world? Was there some sort of continental congress across all continents, a League of Nations to unite all the fractious nations? A great agreement on human rights that lead to an all-nodding of all heads at the rightness of the fulfilment of human needs as the great project of humankind? Or even an alien invasion or other unifying disaster that required a centralization of all control of military hardware? None of the above. Rather, she was elected by a simple majority of the total world population. “Impossible!” you might say. What governing body would assent? Who would manage such a process? How would one validate the votes? In short, a small group of biologists, cryptocurrency enthusiasts, and wireless network infrastructure engineers built and ran an election from scratch, under the auspices of no authority. This creative group developed a biometric vote authenticator that could run on any phone, got an actual supermajority of the world’s population to cast votes, and asked a simple question: who should be the world’s President for the next three years? The President could only serve for three total years in the role with no VP and no other infrastructure, not even any specified or denied powers. The idea was that this President would represent the whole world, considering the short, medium, and long term needs, risks, and opportunities available to human civilization. Media outlets shouted themselves silly that it wouldn’t work, that no one would trust a project that didn’t have the permission of the authorities. Governments worked hard to suppress the existence of the project but after satirizing the idea of a global President too loudly beforehand, it was too late to put the cat back in the box. 5.3 billion people voted. 2.9 billion voted for the President. Suddenly, the wishes of so many intellectuals for generations was fulfilled, in a way: global government! At first, the UN, WTO, USA, AMZN, and all the acronyms and poohbahs of all the countries refused to acknowledge or meet with the President. Then it became clear that their members cared what she had to say. And the people were insistent: “This is our representative on matters that go above your pay grade. You may not report to her, but you must parlay with her.” (The essence of the People’s demands.) So it was that the President began attending UN meetings, holding summits, and signing Executive Orders. And the most prominent pulpit in history was alive with its first temporary resident. Just in time for what came next.