My Ideal Society is None of My Business

 Security is always affordable. You can secure yourself against lies using known technology. Normally it's known as science. Don't include peer review - that's clearly not science. I call it Logic. That which leads to true prediction is logical. That which doesn't is illogical; it's a back-definition. Regardless of any issues you may have with my definition, Logic is already known. The field is already mature, it already works.

 Although Logic is known, there is no demand. The modern world has zero truth supply because there is zero truth demand. Instead, there is high demand for lies and anti-truth security. My ideal society instead has high truth demand and demand for anti-lie technology. 

 There will be some Truth about how to best run this society. I don't decide what the Truth is - I merely attempt to speak on its behalf. If some society has high Truth demand, they will discover these truths whether I tell them or not. As a result, how they run their society is none of my business. Caveat: they may find that hiring me is the cheapest way to discover the Truth, in which case it is my business, but only indirectly. I would just do my job, merely cooperate with cooperators, which coincidentally would be Truth-related. 

 

 That said the top-level organization of a Veritas society is known. 

 Quis custodiet: there is a Pope, who decides who is and isn't lying. If 1 = 0, you can prove anything. False evidence must be persecuted. The society employs security against liars, preventing them from speaking or publishing.

 Rule of Law is impossible. The exact problem at hand is that the Law only enforces itself on long timescales. Further: the punishment is typically catastrophic. Maximally ungentle. As if the Law intentionally lets you run up a debt so it can punish you as savagely as possible. The Law favours tremendous suffering, followed by death. Recall that punishment only reduces vicious behaviour if it comes immediately and thus forms a mental association. If you want short-term enforcement, to avoid being punished by the Law, a Man must pick a Law. It's important, so I repeat: you want rules enforced by Man, not the Law. 

 It's important, so I repeat again: someone has to decide who is lying. There is no technique or mechanism that can detect liars, because a liar will introduce a technique or mechanism that overlooks their lies. To get the Truth out of a social institution, it has to already know the Truth. (See also: Revenge is Sour.) Personnel is policy. True people, true policy. Hence, you don't need any special techniques or mechanism. Demand Truth. Respect truthtellers.

 If your Man picks True Law, you get a good cult. If your man picks False Law, you get a devil cult. Thus we need a mechanism for selecting against bad Popes. 

 The mechanism is Exit.
 The inherent nature of parasitism is that it's always profitable to leave a parasitic group. If it doesn't take more than it gives you, it's not parasitic. Consequently, the rule has to be this: the group is legitimate to the extent you can easily leave. Ideally you would have a light switch next to your thermostat; you would be able to leave the group accidentally if you trip in the wrong spot. Pope on. Pope off. Cancel your taxes for Thursday, then flick it back on for Friday. 

 Cooperation is not in fact hard. This problem is trivial to anyone who employs anti-lie security. Don't allow your "ally" to trap you in an Iron Curtain. It's genuinely that simple. Note that if you agree to the Curtain in exchange for various large payouts, it's a contract, not a trap. (See also: Logical definition and identities.)

 Once more, a different angle: your institution will become corrupt. The liars plain want it more - you can survive being farmed like cattle, but the farmer-mosquito will die if not allowed to suck blood. Liars, banned from lying, fail and die. Once the Pope becomes a liar, you're fucked. You cannot replace the Pope. "The Pope is a liar." Pope: "No I'm not, heretic." You cannot take their cult away from them; they've seized the means of security. No repair or redemption is possible. The only solution is to leave that cult. 

 It's important, so I repeat: a group is legitimate if and exactly to the extent that you can leave.  

 It all comes back to demand for Truth.

 If you demand Truth, you will get a good Pope. The Pope, responding to your demand, will, whether I help or not, implement many things to ensure the Pope remains a Truthful Pope, i.e. himself. He will delay the descent into corruption for as long as possible, precisely because you are already safe. If he keeps it real and good, you stay. If he fails, you leave and join a real and good cult. With Exit, corruption and treachery is self-limiting. With demand for Truth, you are always in a good cult. White government.

 P.S. Kant was right. Lying inherently subverts communication. Lies are not speech, lies are violation. There is no such thing as a white lie. Even if the particular lie can't cause harm, it normalizes lying. It normalizes treachery.