Subject Leader

A Subject Leader has to know his subject, of course. Obvious, right?

However, the insecurities might start when we - for instance - need a clear definition about the subject's scope so that within the scope's boundaries we can trust a Subject Leader's knowledge, advice, responsibility, and authority.

Just by the unstable and subjective nature of language, culture, origin, time, and many other subject-defining dimensions we might not even find two persons with an identical perception about a subject's boundaries. And because those boundaries are fluff, especially when things become unstable and new stuff is added to our spectrum of awareness, the exact definitions of a Subject Leader's subject are fluff and blurry too.

Which brings us to the main responsibilities of a Subject Leader: define, communicate, and preserve the scope of her or his own subject by clearly stating what the subject contains and what it does not and giving advice on which discussions, debates, and votings the subject is relevant to and why.

It is not required that the subject leader knows everything about her or his subject. But it is up to her or him to define the missing pieces, the uncharted territory, to outcall the outdated or even fake narratives, looking for additional facts - supporting or contradicting - in short, to make sure, that the subject continues to be explored on facts and keeps separated from mere rumors, assumptions, propaganda, hatred, and of course to protect it from the smear and gossip of the uneducated or wannabe experts drawing their "knowledge" from the universe or a comic strip or from somewhere in between.

Many have asked about how to become a Subject Leader. Truth is, that a Subject Leader never "becomes" but is always "chosen" for three months whereas she or he can be immediately replaced - at least temporarily until issues are resolved - by the next qualified standing by.

When "The Swarm" was in its infancy, Subject Leaders had often been self-assigned by personalities who claimed themselves fit enough to fill this role. And many were overlooking many - partially overlapping - subjects then.

Only when The Swarm's founders had organized an international, multi-cultural board of "judges", the most relevant subjects get formally defined, withdrawn from their former "owners" and given to the most qualified under the newly created title of "Subject Leader". Those early Leaders were paid, remaind on the job for many years and have created the subject- specific foundations, definitions and rules that are still recognizable today.