The Pillars of Decentralization

Reflecting on one of the best cases for decentralization ever made

Image derived from the work of Faruk Kaymak

I am an evangelist for decentralization. That’s not all you’ll find at Underthrow, but it will certainly be a recurring theme.

I remember teaching in higher ed back in the early naughts. I used to draw a variation of the following on the chalkboard (yes, chalkboards were still in use back then):

For some, this image seers in the mind. It intuitively demonstrates the idea of lateralized relationships over time. As we suggested in a recent post, the transition that comes to pass is a consequence of complexity. But the right protocols must be in place for the transition to be possible. So also must be fidelity to those protocols.

Now, bear in mind, I was teaching this primarily as abstraction in a political philosophy class, that is, before the advent of Bitcoin. So when Satoshi Nakamoto released the infamous whitepaper, the idea really started to get legs.

Since 2009, Johann Gevers is one of the most effective exponents of this idea—or cluster of ideas. His message is simple, clear, and on point. As we reflect on this talk, nearly a decade has passed.

To this day, I can see nothing wrong with the message. But it’s interesting to reflect on what’s happened since, as events have shown what lengths the powerful will go to prop up crumbling empires such as the U.S.

As I watched this video again after so much time, I could see that the germs of ideas in the minds of folks like Gevers and me were now fully unfolding. No longer snapshots, these ideas were being instantiated. Some efforts were abortive. Some efforts were scams. Others were laying low, waiting to reemerge.

Technological decentralization is fighting for its life in a series of fits, starts, and setbacks. Instantiation is hard. But systems evolve. And the evolutionary arms race is now entering its open warfare phase.

• Hierarchies vs. networks

• Compulsion-based systems vs. persuasion-based systems

• Imposed law vs. chosen law

• Centralization vs. decentralization

All these themes Gevers could see back then became experiments in a great ecosystem. Pulling from evolutionary biology, someone such as Bret Weinstein might argue that the broader Decentralist enterprise is entering a “bottleneck” phase, which means a die-off of projects.

When it comes to evolutionary biology, I’m just an amateur. I dare say, though, that whatever projects get through the bottleneck will be hard to stop after that. In other words, when it comes to competing human systems—as regulators seeking to block the exits of a sinking Titanic with approaches such as Operation Chokepoint 2.0—whatever technologies and systems get through the worst will be heartier and more resilient.

On the other side, a Decentralist Cambrian explosion awaits.