Lottocracy on The Shape of the World podcast

Posted on October 22, 2026 by Yoram Gat

The Shape of the World is a podcast hosted by Jill Riddell, that describes itself as “exploring the intricate relationships between cities, nature, and the people who shape them”.

A recent episode features Alex Guerrero discussing “Lottocracy”.

What if your upstairs neighbor, your cousin, or the bartender down the street were chosen by lottery to represent you in government? Author and political philosopher Alex Guerrero believes this radical idea, known as lottocracy, is a better alternative than voting.

The idea is that instead of an individual announcing they want to be a leader and then launching a campaign to become one, our representatives in government would be chosen by random selection. To some degree, the concept is already utilized; the United States uses random selection to assemble its juries for legal trials, and in Europe and Canada, groups known as “citizens’ assemblies” are assembled by random selection to discuss and make recommendations on a particular issue.

In this episode, Alex examines the benefits and drawbacks of lottery-based democracy. But in general, he is a huge proponent of the concept, and he and others are working hard to make it a reality. He is convinced it will reduce the influence of money in politics and reduce corruption. It could ease gridlock and produce fairer and sounder policies. And it could make more inclusive political systems. But what would this process actually look like? And could it make the shape of the world as we know it even better?

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