Agora — Values

Adopted S3 Principles

Effectiveness — Devote time only to what brings you closer to achieving objectives
Consent — Raise, seek out, and resolve objections to proposals and policies
Empiricism — Test all assumptions through experiments and continuous revision
Continuous Improvement — Regularly review outcomes, then make incremental improvements
Equivalence — Involve people in making and evolving decisions that affect them
Transparency — Record all valuable information and make it accessible to everyone
Accountability — Respond when something is needed, do what you agreed to do

Personal Sovereignty — Every individual retains ultimate control over their decisions. Delegation is always revocable. No system, agent, or delegate can override the individual's will.
Trust Through Proximity — Governance legitimacy comes from real relationships, not abstract representation. You delegate to people you know, not strangers.
Value Alignment First — AI agents must be grounded in the user's actual values (through coaching, assessment, and reflection) before they can act on anyone's behalf. Configuration before automation.
Open Knowledge — All systems must be understandable: how agents work, how resources are allocated, how votes are counted, how decisions are made. No closed systems, no black boxes. Code is open-source (MIT), research and governance docs are Creative Commons (CC BY 4.0), protocols are open standards. When there is no profit motive, there is no reason to keep secrets. This is non-negotiable — without radical transparency, the three-layer model collapses back into technocratic control.

Review date: 2027-04-07