i think it would be neat to be ruled over by a council of benevolent scientists, or perhaps a philosopher king. democracy just seems like a bad idea and it hasn't been working very well. if it's a popularity contest then we just get charismatic populists and demagogues.
the only way i think democracy would work is if we give animals the right to vote. I think with some technology we could figure out how to teach dogs and horses and dolphins to vote, that would be a good start. then maybe have like a council of tree experts and plant enthusiasts to represent the interests of plants in all votes.
We also tried that before in USA, its called a technocracy. It didn't work because at the time (early 20th century) most of the scientists were eugenecists.
Might be time to try again now that eugenics is (mostly) laughed out of the room.