CONCEPT
Stewardship as Priesthood Model
Mouffe's diagnostic term for the governance framework in which those who understand a technical system claim the authority to govern it on behalf of those who lack that understanding — the foundational structure of technocracy, presented as moral seriousness.
In Chapter 16 of You On AI, Segal explicitly invokes the priesthood model: 'people with deep understanding of complex systems' who 'mediate between that domain and those who do not understand it.' The priest serves because he understands. His knowledge confers not just capability but obligation — to act responsibly, to consider downstream effects, to build structures that protect the ecosystem. Segal proposes the test of the priesthood: whether its members' actions make others more capable. Mouffe's framework accepts the diagnosis and presses the deeper question. The priesthood model solves the competence problem — decisions are made by those who understand — at the cost of the legitimacy problem. Who authorized the priests? The answer, in the technology industry, is: no one. The priests authorized themselves, through the self-reinforcing logic that understanding confers the right to decide.
In The You On AI Field Guide
The distinction between competence and