What editions and translations of Plurality exist?

Most books belong to a publisher, and translations are decided by contracts between publishers. Plurality is different. It was written in the open on the internet by many people and has been released in a form anyone may use freely. So the same book exists both as a printed book and as a web book, and languages differ in how far the translation has got and in how recent its text is. This article sorts out which editions exist in which languages and where to read them for free.

In short

The text of Plurality (by Audrey Tang, E. Glen Weyl and the Plurality Community) is CC0, meaning its copyright has been waived so anyone may use it freely. It can be read for free on GitHub (a site for building documents and software together) and on the official site plurality.net [1][2].

There are two root versions, English and Traditional Mandarin (the Mandarin used in Taiwan) [1]. Printed books exist in English (May 2024) [3], in Traditional Mandarin as《多元宇宙》(July 2024) [4], and in Japanese as『PLURALITY』(May 2025) [7]. Other languages are volunteer translations. Some, like German and Thai, are nearly or fully complete; others are empty [1][8].

The editions

Printed books and the root versions

Volunteer translations (as of September 2026)

How the editions differ

Anyone can start a translation. The description in the English repository strongly encourages translations into other languages and cultures ("forks"). It also says the authors will link to and recognize as official only a smaller group that lines up with the root in content, values, management style and copyright [1].

The Traditional Mandarin title is 多元宇宙. In a 2024 interview, Tang said this was her own translation. She explained that it combines 多元 (people with different positions present together) and 元宇宙 (metaverse, connected through open technology) [20].

The book is a "living document". In the English edition's words: "If you are reading a printed version, it is almost certainly out of date already" [2]. The latest version is on plurality.net. A translation's content depends on when its source text was taken.

The Traditional Mandarin and Thai editions keep older text in places. In chapter 3-3, "The Lost Dao", the section on Japanese quality control and the "Nameraka Society" is in the English and Japanese editions but not in the Traditional Mandarin or Thai ones [21][9]. In chapter 5-4, "Augmented Deliberation", the paragraph on Takahiro Anno's campaign for Tokyo governor is in English and Japanese but not in Traditional Mandarin [22]. Chapters 5-0 and 4-1 also differ from the English in places [23]. In the example at the start of chapter 5-6, extra votes cost 10 and then 20 in English and Japanese, but 20 and then 30 in Traditional Mandarin [24]. The quotations at the head of chapter 2-0 also differ. The English and Japanese editions have two: words by Shoshana Zuboff and a passage from Marc Andreessen's "The Techno-Optimist Manifesto" (2023). The Traditional Mandarin edition first gives words Andreessen said in a 2021 interview, followed by a different quotation from Zuboff [30]. As far as this site has compared the GitHub manuscripts, the Traditional Mandarin edition has fewer paragraphs and footnotes than the English in chapters 3-3, 5-0, 5-4 and others, and seems to be based on an older English draft. This is an inference: we have not checked when the drafts were written, nor compared them with the printed books [21][22][23].

About the Japanese manuscript. The Japanese manuscript has two prefaces (「複数性を見る」 and 「多元性を見る」), and we have not checked which one matches the printed book. It has no files for the endorsements or credits [5].

Differences between the Japanese manuscript and the current English text. We noticed these while preparing this site's material. They are candidates that the translation community has not yet confirmed, and we have not checked them against the printed book. - Chapters 5-1 and 5-2 follow an older English draft, so their structure and examples differ from the current English text (the Traditional Mandarin edition does the same) [27]. - In chapter 7-0, the English puts the money open-source communities have received over their whole history at under two billion dollars; the Japanese and Traditional Mandarin editions say under one billion [28]. - In chapter 7-1, the English says there are perhaps only three to five years to set the movement in motion. The Japanese manuscript can be read as saying it will take three to five years to get it started [29]. - The reading guide in chapter 0-2 translates the English "Part" as 章 (chapter), so "start from chapter 3" there means Part 3 [2]. - In chapter 2-2, the English says that "cabinet member Jaclyn Tsai recruited one of us as a youth 'reverse mentor'", and the Traditional Mandarin edition also names 蔡玉玲 (Jaclyn Tsai). The Japanese manuscript renders this as 「閣僚の蔡英文はオードリー・タンを青年顧問として採用し」 (cabinet member 蔡英文 [Tsai Ing-wen] recruited Audrey Tang as a youth adviser) [31].

The Japanese edition has two faces. What is marked CC0 is the translated manuscript and figures in the repository [5]. Ken Suzuki's commentary was also released separately under CC0 [25]. Plans for the Japanese edition were reported on a blog in July 2024, and the release date given then was 31 December 2024 [26].

Reading it for free

• Web edition in every language: https://www.plurality.net/ . Chapter pages follow the pattern /v/chapters/3-0/eng/ for English, /jpn/ for Japanese and /zh-tw/ for Traditional Mandarin [2].
• The manuscripts themselves: English and Traditional Mandarin are at https://github.com/pluralitybook/plurality , and Japanese is in contents/japanese at https://github.com/nishio/plurality-japanese [1][5].
• German: readable from https://plurality.net/de/read/3-0/ [8].
• If you find a mistake: the English edition invites readers to report problems on GitHub (as an "issue") or propose fixes (as a "pull request") [2]. How the book is governed is covered in the article on Gov4Git.

Further reading

1. The official book site (all languages, book) — https://www.plurality.net/
2. The book repository's ReadMe (English; translation policy and list of official translations) — https://github.com/pluralitybook/plurality
3. The Plurality movement in Japan — how the Japanese translation and edition came about (an article on this site)
4. Transcript of the interview in which Tang explains the title 多元宇宙 (in Mandarin) — https://sayit.archive.tw/2024-06-13-%E6%97%A9%E5%AE%89%E6%96%B0%E8%81%9E%E5%85%A8%E7%90%83%E4%B8%B2%E9%80%A3
5. The official Japanese translation repository (in Japanese, manuscript) — https://github.com/nishio/plurality-japanese
6. Ken Suzuki, commentary on the Japanese edition (in Japanese, CC0) — https://note.com/digitaldemocracy/n/nb8b59a6b775d

Sources

1. ReadMe of pluralitybook/plurality (Copyright, Official Translation Repositories and other sections) — https://github.com/pluralitybook/plurality
2. Plurality, 0-2 "Finding Your Dao", English — https://www.plurality.net/v/chapters/0-2/eng/ ; Japanese — https://www.plurality.net/v/chapters/0-2/jpn/ ［CC0］
3. Plurality Institute, "The new seminal book on plurality has launched!" (20 May 2024) — https://www.plurality.institute/blog-posts/book-launch-plurality-the-future-of-collaborative-technology-and-democracy-by-e-glen-weyl-audrey-tang-and-the-plurality-community
4. Sanmin Bookstore, listing for《多元宇宙：協作技術與民主的未來》— https://www.sanmin.com.tw/product/index/013324503
5. README and contents/japanese of the official Japanese repository nishio/plurality-japanese — https://github.com/nishio/plurality-japanese ［CC0］
6. 堡壘文化, book page for《多元宇宙：協作技術與民主的未來》— https://www.bookrep.com.tw/?md=gwindex&cl=book&at=bookcontent&id=18790
7. Cybozu, press release on the Japanese edition of PLURALITY (PR TIMES, 2 May 2025, in Japanese) — https://prtimes.jp/main/html/rd/p/000000017.000101800.html
8. German translation, GermanPluralityBook/pluralitaet — https://github.com/GermanPluralityBook/pluralitaet ［CC0］
9. Thai translation, chusanap/plurality-thai — https://github.com/chusanap/plurality-thai ［CC0］
10. Korean machine translation, ynginkim/plurality-ko-codex — https://github.com/ynginkim/plurality-ko-codex
11. Korean repository hwnprc/plurality-korean — https://github.com/hwnprc/plurality-korean
12. Turkish translation, omgbbqhaxx/plurality — https://github.com/omgbbqhaxx/plurality
13. Italian translation, tommiiik/plurality-italiano — https://github.com/tommiiik/plurality-italiano ［CC0］
14. Norwegian translation, NorwegianPlurality/Pluralitet-Bok — https://github.com/NorwegianPlurality/Pluralitet-Bok
15. Dutch translation, iconsultancy/plurality-dutch — https://github.com/iconsultancy/plurality-dutch
16. French translation (RadicalxChange Paris) — https://github.com/xitobal/radicalxchangeparis.github.io
17. Greek translation, KenonAlpha/plurality-greek — https://github.com/KenonAlpha/plurality-greek
18. Ukrainian repository vlree-alt/plurality-ukrainian — https://github.com/vlree-alt/plurality-ukrainian ［CC0］
19. Spanish repository FritzDVL/plurality-spanish (404 as of 24 September 2026) — https://github.com/FritzDVL/plurality-spanish
20. Transcript, "2024-06-13 早安新聞全球串連" (in Mandarin) — https://sayit.archive.tw/2024-06-13-%E6%97%A9%E5%AE%89%E6%96%B0%E8%81%9E%E5%85%A8%E7%90%83%E4%B8%B2%E9%80%A3 ［CC0］
21. Plurality, 3-3 "The Lost Dao", English — https://www.plurality.net/v/chapters/3-3/eng/ ; Japanese — https://www.plurality.net/v/chapters/3-3/jpn/ ; Traditional Mandarin — https://www.plurality.net/v/chapters/3-3/zh-tw/ ［CC0］
22. Plurality, 5-4 "Augmented Deliberation", English — https://www.plurality.net/v/chapters/5-4/eng/ ; Japanese — https://www.plurality.net/v/chapters/5-4/jpn/ ; Traditional Mandarin — https://www.plurality.net/v/chapters/5-4/zh-tw/ ［CC0］
23. Plurality, 5-0, English — https://www.plurality.net/v/chapters/5-0/eng/ ; 4-1, English — https://www.plurality.net/v/chapters/4-1/eng/ ; 5-0, Traditional Mandarin — https://www.plurality.net/v/chapters/5-0/zh-tw/ ; 4-1 — https://www.plurality.net/v/chapters/4-1/zh-tw/ ［CC0］
24. Plurality, 5-6 "⿻ Voting", English — https://www.plurality.net/v/chapters/5-6/eng/ ; Traditional Mandarin — https://www.plurality.net/v/chapters/5-6/zh-tw/ ［CC0］
25. Ken Suzuki, "Plurality日本語版解説" (note, 1 May 2025, CC0, in Japanese) — https://note.com/digitaldemocracy/n/nb8b59a6b775d
26. yomoyomo, blog post on the planned Japanese edition (YAMDAS現更新履歴, 24 July 2024, in Japanese) — https://yamdas.hatenablog.com/entry/20240724/plurality-japanese
27. Plurality, 5-1 and 5-2, English — https://www.plurality.net/v/chapters/5-1/eng/ , https://www.plurality.net/v/chapters/5-2/eng/ ; Japanese — https://www.plurality.net/v/chapters/5-1/jpn/ , https://www.plurality.net/v/chapters/5-2/jpn/ ［CC0］
28. Plurality, 7-0 "Policy", English — https://www.plurality.net/v/chapters/7-0/eng/ ; Japanese — https://www.plurality.net/v/chapters/7-0/jpn/ ［CC0］
29. Plurality, 7-1 "Conclusion", English — https://www.plurality.net/v/chapters/7-1/eng/ ; Japanese — https://www.plurality.net/v/chapters/7-1/jpn/ ［CC0］
30. Plurality, 2-0 "Information Technology and Democracy: A Widening Gulf", English — https://www.plurality.net/v/chapters/2-0/eng/ ; Japanese — https://www.plurality.net/v/chapters/2-0/jpn/ ; Traditional Mandarin — https://www.plurality.net/v/chapters/2-0/zh-tw/ ［CC0］
31. Plurality, 2-2 "The Life of a Digital Democracy", English — https://www.plurality.net/v/chapters/2-2/eng/ ; Japanese — https://www.plurality.net/v/chapters/2-2/jpn/ ; Traditional Mandarin — https://www.plurality.net/v/chapters/2-2/zh-tw/ ［CC0］