The following story was created with the support of Summer of Protocols and published under a Creative Commons CC-BY license.
Musetta sat by herself on an overstuffed couch, toying with her name badge as she glanced around the delegate lounge. At 18, she was the youngest participant by a few years; most attendees were over 40. She had been here for over an hour and the only people she had talked to were the woman working the registration desk and the attendant at the buffet.
Other delegates entered the lounge in small groups or had struck up conversations with attendees milling about. Everyone else seemed at ease; they were likely experienced participants in Liquid Democracy caucuses and acquainted with each other from industry events or political gatherings.
Musetta stared out the resort’s massive floor-to-ceiling windows while she waited for the next presentation, gazing at the cliffs crashing into the Pacific Ocean. She worried that she didn’t belong at the event and that she didn’t have anything to contribute. She opened her Liquid Democracy app, stared at her delegate count, and told herself that the 30,000 friends and neighbors had entrusted her with their votes for a reason. They were relying on her to make an informed vote on the Gene Banking Proposition. Her delegate count was high enough to qualify for a short speaking slot on stage, later that afternoon. She switched to her notes app to review her pre-written speech.
* * *
A man approached her, glancing between her name badge and the tablet in his hands. “Ah Musetta. Hi, I’m Gaige Stanwick from a think tank called the Center for Genetic Futures.” He wore a blazer and button down but no tie and he radiated confidence.
“Nice to meet you, Gaige.” She shook his hand.
“You’ve got a great story, very sympathetic. I assume you’re voting for compulsory gene banking?”
Musetta was surprised that he knew about her. Did he have research on all of the delegates? “I actually haven’t decided which version I’m voting for. Obviously I’m in favor of gene banking, but I also care about privacy and so do the folks who gave me their vote.”
A tiny frown crossed Gaige’s face before turning into a broad smile. “I’m sure you’ll come around. We’re recording pro-banking messages in the PR suite later. Come by once you’ve made up your mind.” He surveyed the lounge before settling his eyes on a woman in a pantsuit. “Ah, that’s the congresswoman from Bakersfield. Pardon me.”
The sympathetic story that Gaige referenced involved Musetta’s younger brother Neri. He had mytozyme syndrome, an untreatable disease, but Musetta was hopeful that broader gene banking would help researchers find a cure. Together, she and Neri had organized a local gene banking drive in their hometown of Stockton to try to speed things along. He was mostly bed-bound but still helped with the planning and promotion. The drive had a great turnout and led to her giving a talk at a city council meeting, which set her on a path to qualifying for this delegate caucus. Every step of the way, Neri encouraged her, tracking her vote count more closely than she did.
* * *
“Ugh, lobbyists.” came a voice from behind her.
Musetta turned to see a young woman dressed in jeans and a t-shirt. The shirt featured a slogan which was obscured by an attendee badge which read Shelby Kleij. Musetta glanced back at Gaige before replying. “Lobbyist? He said he works for a think tank.”
“Same thing. He’s funded by Fractal Life Sciences or BaseBase or Glial Digital or… all of them.” Shelby grimaced.
“Well, he was pushing me to back compulsory banking.” Musetta paused to stare at the woman and figured out that her t-shirt read Tank the Bank. “You’re not anti-biotech, are you?”
Shelby chuckled. “No. Biotech research is fine, it’s just the companies I can’t stand. They’re trying to steal all of our private data!” She paused for a moment, trying to sense if Musetta was sympathetic to her cause. “Hi, I’m Shelby. I’m with the Student Privacy Association. Where do you go to school?”
“San Joaquin High School over in Stockton, I’m a senior. you?”
“I’m a junior at Cal Berkeley. I run our local SPA chapter and also have votes delegated to me from a bunch of other UC chapters. You care about privacy, right?”
“Of course. But, the current proposals say that gene banks will be held in a public trust. So companies can’t just steal the data, right?” Musetta wasn’t an expert on privacy but she was pretty sure there were safeguards against misuse.
“The biotechs are going to do whatever they want with our data and they don’t care who gets hurt when it gets used against us. And inevitably it’ll leak, just like with the massive insurance breach that happened last year.”
“But gene banking can save lives. My brother is sick and we’re hoping that gene banking will help with a cure. That has to be worth it.”
“Oh, I’m sorry.” Shelby blushed and glanced away. “I hope your brother finds a cure, I do. It’s just that the privacy risks are way too high. I’ve had friends dropout of school after their personal data was leaked. Private messages, journal entries, STD tests… given enough time, everything becomes public.” The two women stood quietly for a moment before Shelby broke the silence “I’m going to get some air before the next speaker. See you around.”
Shelby left the lounge and Musetta sat back down on one of the couches. She wasn’t sure what to make of Shelby or Gaige but it felt good to be talking with other delegates. She thought about the recent insurance breach, which had revealed massive volumes of personal information. She and her classmates had snickered when they found that their principal had received treatment for warts. Her generation had grown up online and been told from a young age to take privacy seriously. Yet with so much information in corporate databases, there was a limit to what any individual could do. She knew that the folks who had delegated their votes to her did care about privacy and about healthcare research.
* * *
This delegate caucus was an all day event, open to delegates entrusted with at least 25,000 votes. Delegates with a high enough vote count were invited to speak on stage to share their community’s needs and perspectives. At the end of the caucus, delegates would decide which version of the Gene Banking Proposition, if any, would be added to the California ballot that November. Then, the general public would have their say via a simple yes or no vote.
This process was part of a recent set of experiments in civic participation under the category of Liquid Democracy. Citizens could now vote on more issues, and with more nuance. Rather than dig into the meat of every issue, most voters chose to delegate their vote to someone they trusted, usually someone who shared their values but knew a bit more about the topic. That delegate could, in turn, pass their votes onward to a third person. The original voters could always recall any delegated votes but that rarely happened. In practice, most folks delegated their votes and then forgot about the issue altogether.
The proposed versions of the Gene Banking Proposition sought to improve scientific understanding of medical disorders by creating huge libraries of individuals’ genomes and their ongoing health information, all while maintaining personal privacy. Then researchers could use the vast data platform to derive insights and develop breakthrough therapeutics. The proposals varied on a few dimensions: would participation be mandatory, opt-in, or opt-out; how intellectual property would work; how the system would be funded; who would manage the platform and safeguard user privacy?
* * *
A gray-haired woman sat down next to Musetta, carrying a plateful of pastries. She immediately recognized the woman as Dr. Keliwy, the famed science communicator. Musetta tried not to stare but then the older woman turned and offered her plate.
“I grabbed too many, and I know I’ll regret eating all of them. Want one?”
Musetta stared at the assortment and tentatively grabbed a chocolate croissant. “Thanks. I, um, we watched your video on DNA synthesis in my AP Bio class. It was super helpful.”
Dr. Keliwy smiled, “That was a fun series to record! I’m glad that it’s helping students. What’s your name?”
“Musetta”
“Hi Musetta, I’m Dari Keliwy. I’d shake your hand but…” She waved her crumb-covered hands. “What brings you to the caucus today?”
“I think gene banking can be this amazing thing, if we do it right. When my brother got sick, I organized a big drive in my town and got a bunch of folks to sign up. When the topic was added to this season’s ballot measures, most of my town delegated their votes to me.”
“That’s wonderful. Is your brother okay?”
“For now… Neri has mytozyme syndrome but the doctors have prevented it from getting worse.”
“That’s good. I read a recent preprint from Dr. Idonije’s lab at UCSF. It sounds like they might know the pathway through which mytozyme damages cells, which could make it easier to find a cure.”
“That’s great, Neri and I will read it when I get home tonight; we try to stay on top of all the latest research.” She paused for a moment, not sure what else to say to her. “So what are you doing here? I figured someone like you would be too busy to come to a caucus.”
“I’m not a real celebrity, I just play one on TV.” Dr. Keliwy smiled. “Hundreds of thousands of people trust me with their votes when it comes to scientific issues; I take that incredibly seriously. I attend a dozen caucuses a year to try to better understand the issues and to help shape policy.”
Gentle chimes sounded by the door to the lounge and Dr. Keliwy checked her watch. “Five minutes until my talk, I need to go backstage to mic up. Great meeting you Musetta.”
* * *
Dr. Keliwy’s talk was well attended and most delegates paid close attention to her explanation of the scientific potential of gene banking. Neri was watching from home and messaged Musetta with a running commentary on the nuances. After Dr. Keliwy left the stage, Musetta approached her in the hallways for a few technical follow-up questions and the scientist answered them with a smile.
During the break between speakers, Musetta went outside for a walk along the resort’s coastal path. She walked toward the edge of the cliff and stared at the Pacific breakers rolling in and crashing upon the rocky beach. A few yards away, she saw a man setting up a tripod and clearly struggling with the wind as he prepared for a video shoot. He wore a hoodie with a cartoon illustration of an exploding brain.
The man waved her over, “Yo, can you help me hold this steady?”
“Sure!” Musetta recognized him as Alden Jackson, a famous video streamer. He was in his late twenties and most of her classmates watched him daily.
“Sweet, I’m trying to get this view in my background but the wind isn’t cooperating. I just need a quick intro for today’s show. Oh I’m Alden by the way, you might know me from my channel ‘Whoa Science!’ or ‘Extreme California!’”
“Hi, I’m Musetta. My brother Neri loves your shows.”
“Nice! Let’s take a selfie for him.” They posed for her camera and he made a brain exploding gesture with his hands. “Ok, let’s record this intro.”
She held his tripod steady as he recorded a short welcome and overview for his show.
“Eh, good enough. I’ll record the rest in the PR room where we can get good audio.” He gave Musetta a closer look. “Are you part of Gaige’s Young Influencer program? Want to do a co-stream?”
“I’m not in his program. I’m actually new to all of this.” She gestured vaguely toward the resort. “I’m up to do a co-stream though!”
“Yeah, sure, let’s do it. Here, you carry the tripod, I’ll grab the camera case.”
A few minutes later, they were all set in the PR suite and ready to go live. Gaige, the lobbyist, entered during the mic check and Alden gave him a thumbs up. Alden turned to Musetta before starting the stream. “We’ll just have a chill conversation about gene banking and what we’re thinking, no pressure.”
“What up ‘Whoa Science!’ fans! We’re here in beautiful Half Moon Bay at the Liquid Democracy caucus for gene banking, getting ready to vote on the future of biotech. I’d like to introduce you to Musetta, my co-host for this stream, and to give a shout out to her brother Neri, a huge fan of the show.”
* * *
The next few minutes blurred by. Alden started the stream politely but he turned combative when she pushed back on his position that gene banking should be compulsory. Whenever she tried to share a counter argument or cite a study, he would interrupt and explain why she was mistaken and how his views were obviously correct.
“As always, thanks for trusting me with your votes. I’m voting for the future we all deserve!” Alden grinned at the camera and ended the stream. Musetta sat in silence.
Alden took off his lapel mic and checked the stream’s stats. “Nice, over 100k views, not bad for an impromptu stream. I gotta talk to Gaige, thanks for coming on the stream, Musetta.” He smiled at her and walked off.
Musetta exited the PR suite in a daze and crumpled into a plush armchair in the hallway. Her phone buzzed with a message from her brother, “Ugh. Done being an Alden fan. U got this!”
* * *
A few minutes later, Shelby came by and sat down next to her. “Rough stream, huh?” The college delegate had clearly seen some of Musetta and Alden’s conversation. “Alden is a jerk and totally in the pocket of biotech. If you’re going to go on his stream, you can’t play his game; you’ve got to seize the initiative and pelter him with questions.”
“I was blindsided.” Musetta shook her head. “He was so nice before he turned the camera on.”
“He’s just out for himself. Can’t afford to look bad on stream or it’ll cost him his biotech payout.”
“They’re buying his vote?” Musetta looked askance.
“Pretty much, though they won’t call it that. He knows that if he supports their positions, they’ll sponsor his videos.”
“That’s messed up”
“Yeah. They have funds to buy all the votes they need. Liquid Democracy is no less corrupt than representative democracy, it’s just a bit more convoluted.”
“But you think that you can change delegates’ minds right?”
“Not really. There’s no path to the Student Privacy Association actually winning today’s vote, but caucuses are a great place to make a scene and draw some attention to our cause.” Shelby leaned in and lowered her voice. “You know, if you wanted to get back at Alden, we could catch him on camera admitting to being in biotech’s pocket.”
Musetta thought for a second before replying. This was clearly not how Liquid Democracy was supposed to work but would she be able to make a difference? “I don’t know, this all seems risky.”
“Nah,” said Shelby, “The real risk is that Alden’s support causes the compulsory version of gene banking to win at this caucus and then the public all votes yes in November.”
Musetta frowned at the prospect and then nodded to Shelby. “Okay, I’m in.”
Shelby shared her plan with Musetta, giving her tips for how to appeal to Alden’s ego and how to have him reveal the unsavory side of Liquid Democracy, where influencers and influence peddlers worked together.
* * *
“So Alden, I was hoping you could give me some advice about gaining more votes, becoming an influencer, and maybe even getting sponsorship.”
“For sure, I have a few minutes before my next stream.” Alden was sipping coffee on the patio, taking a break from video editing.
Musetta was trying hard not to glance at Shelby, who was live streaming their conversation from the next fire pit over. “Thanks! So what’s the fastest way to grow delegates?”
“It’s all about focus and balance. You want to pick issues that are interesting enough to stream about but not so personal that folks are going to want to keep the vote themselves. Then learn just enough to know the lingo, but don’t waste time becoming an expert. You can always use AI to fill in the gaps when you need to.” He paused and looked at her with a measure of doubt. “You seem like you actually care about gene banking but you’ll have to hype yourself for other issues too. Don’t take this the wrong way, but you don’t really give off influencer vibes. Are you sure you want to be one?”
Musetta’s mind raced as she tried hard not to look over at Shelby and not to think about how many live viewers might be people that she knew. She had to keep him talking. “Yeah, I totally want to be an influencer. This is my first caucus and I’m a bit intimidated being around folks with such high vote counts, especially those who are such great showmen.” She gestured at him. “But I’ll get used to it… and gene banking is only the start for me.”
The flattery seemed to work and Alden grinned. “Ok, but it takes hard work. Next tip: you’ll want to be a bit controversial, a bit edgy. That’ll help you stand out and grab votes from other influencers. It’s a zero-sum game. Try getting into drama with folks who have their own audiences but only pick fights you know you can win.” He smiled with his mouth but not his eyes. “Oh and don’t you dare try that against me.”
“I wouldn’t think of it.” Mussetta fidgeted with her badge. She needed him to say something shady, something involving the lobbyist. “How about getting sponsorships? That’s the real goal, right?”
“Hell yeah. You’ve gotta pick issues that have big money involved. Like: homelessness issues are generally a waste of time unless there’s a big developer involved. But the optics can be rough so…” He juggled his hands, balancing the risks. “And you’ll want to separate your Liquid Democracy content from whatever you want sponsored to get around campaign finance laws. I support biotech friendly policies on my democracy streams but the corporate sponsorship is for my Whoa Science videos.”
“I can’t actually say that I’ll support their policies in exchange for a sponsorship, right?”
“Definitely not. It’s a relationship game, like anything else. Make friends with Gaige and join the young influencers program. Then, publish content that supports their positions. You can bring up sponsorship later, once you’ve shown that you’re aligned on policy. Oh and see if you can get invited to any junkets; they flew me to Maui last month for a set of synth-bio talks and…”
Alden broke off as Gaige stormed onto the patio, waving his phone while flanked by security guards. “Stop talking, you’re on stream right now.” Gaige’s phone showed the stream from Shelby’s phone, with thousands of live viewers. Alden stopped talking and looked around in confusion. The security guards surrounded Shelby and told her that she had violated the caucus’s privacy policies and that she had to leave the property immediately.
Before she turned the corner, Shelby looked back at Musetta with a smile. Alden caught the glance and narrowed his eyes at Musetta. “This was a setup? You are so done.” He stormed off in the direction of the PR lounge.
* * *
Musetta walked back into the resort and sat down for another talk. She struggled to focus, worrying instead about the fallout from the stream. Halfway through the session, her phone started buzzing with notifications. Alden had published a rant that accused her of trying to “cancel” him and of violating the caucus’s principles. He encouraged his followers to let Musetta know what they thought about her actions. Trolls were tearing through her internet presence, leaving nasty comments on public posts and encouraging her supporters to revoke their votes. She saw Neri replying to some of them and she messaged him to knock it off. Nothing good comes from arguing with trolls.
Unfortunately, Aldens rant was having an impact on her delegated votes. Already, one scandal-averse member of Stockton’s city council had revoked his vote and, along with it, the votes of several thousand of his constituents who had delegated their votes to him. Perhaps worse, she saw her classmates talking about the incident on social media and quite a few were supporting Alden.
She got up from her seat and sped to the bathroom, where she hid in a stall and tried to not cry. She was huddling on the seat, clearing notifications and blocking trolls, when she received a message from the caucus team. Too many people had revoked their votes, enough that her vote count had fallen below the caucus threshold. They weren’t going to kick her out, but they were taking away her speaking slot.
She messaged Shelby, asking for advice and received a quick reply. “It’s all part of the game, don’t worry about it. And hey, clips from the stream are circulating online so folks are seeing how the system is corrupt.”
“I don’t think Liquid Democracy is corrupt, just influencers like Alden.”
“Can’t have one without the other.”
That didn’t sound right to Musetta but she wasn’t going to argue with Shelby over chat messages. She thought about how she’d lost her chance to speak to the caucus and how it felt like she had let herself and her community down. She heard footsteps and failed to stifle sob as someone else entered the bathroom.
“Everything alright in there?” Dr. Keliwy’s voice echoed in the bathroom.
“Yes. No. I’ve messed up.” Musetta came out from the stall and explained the situation.
“That’s really rough. I still have trolls come after me and it doesn’t get easier. The best thing you can do is ignore them and they’ll lose interest. Alden will move on soon, too. Fighting with a high school girl won’t look good for him; I wouldn’t be surprised if his publicist makes him delete his rant and he pretends it never happened.” Dr. Keliwy shook her head. “He’s cynical and he’ll do what’s best for his numbers.”
“I hope so.” Musetta stared at her hands. “Even still, I’ve let down everyone who trusted me with a vote. I thought this was my shot at representing them and maybe influencing the caucus… but it’s clear that I don’t belong here.”
“That’s not true at all. It’s clear to me, from our earlier conversations, that you have a good grasp of the issues and that you understand the science better than most of the delegates.” Before Musetta could object, Dr. Keliwy continued. “But Liquid Democracy isn’t about giving one’s vote to the most knowledgeable expert, it’s about weighing your values and factoring them into any decision. Your community didn’t delegate their votes because of your science knowledge, they did so because they trust that you share their values and that you care enough to make the best decision for them.”
“Thank you, Dr. Keliwy, I needed to hear that.” The tension left Musetta’s shoulders as she felt the stress from the past hour fade. She held out her phone. “I want to record an apology to everyone who delegated their vote to me, would you hold the camera for me?”
“Of course, but let’s film somewhere that isn’t the bathroom.”
The two walked back outside to the patio, where sun was beginning to set over the Pacific. Musetta took a moment to record a heartfelt message. She reaffirmed how much the Gene Banking Proposition meant to her and her brother and that she regretted letting Alden distract her from the purpose of the caucus. Then, she summarized some of the key arguments from the day’s sessions and shared how she was planning on voting.
Musetta took her phone back from Dr. Keliwy and used the Liquid Democracy app to share it with the 20,000 folks who still had their votes delegated to her. She let out a long exhale. “Thanks doctor, I appreciate it.”
“You’re welcome.” Dr. Keliwy stared at her for a moment, nodding her head in thought. “Musetta, I need to leave the caucus early; my team needs my help with a minor crisis. I won’t be here for the closing session or the final vote. It’s clear that we’re aligned on the key issues around gene banking and I want to delegate all of my votes to you. Will you stay and vote on my behalf, and on behalf of everyone who has entrusted me with their vote?”
Musetta’s eyes widened. “Yes, of course! I can’t tell you how much your trust means to me. I won’t let you down.”
“Thank you and good luck. I know you’ll make the right decision.”
Dr. Keliwy said goodbye and left the caucus. Musetta spent a few minutes taking in the sunset before she received a text from Neri, “837,503!!!” followed by a screenshot of the Liquid Democracy vote tracker. Dr. Keliwy had delegated her hundreds of thousands of votes to Musetta. She stared at the number, trying to imagine all of those people whose votes had been delegated onward and upward until they reached her.
“Pardon me Miss.” A member of the caucus team had walked up to her. “Based on the current vote allocations, you’re now one of the top delegates. That gives you the right to make a speech during our final session. We’re prepping backstage now. Are you interested?”
Musetta didn’t hesitate. “Yes, count me in!”