The dichotomy in philosophy between Ethereum and Ethereum Classic may describe where the industry is evolving to.
Since these two currencies ‘forked’ out of the single Ethereum - after a hacker exposed a loophole - the philosophy inherent to Ethereum Classic has been that the platform should remain 100% democratic, despite the risks of attack. Whereas ‘Ethereum’ is more closely controlled by a core team of developers, to prevent such risk. As a note, the market clearly prefers the latter.
This is the same dilemma between 100% Open Source and what we can call ‘managed open source’ or ‘curated Open Source’ software.
Not everyone has the same intentions. If they are given equal respect as anyone else, trolls, bullies and vandals have always been able to poison the well of public discourse and abrogate the Commons for themselves. Curating the Commons provides the ability for the Commons to be protected, on behalf of everyone (no tragedy is necessary).
This is also the same dilemma that Facebook and YouTube face in provision of a user-generated platform. Even to manipulating elections.
Teenage rebels take note. Teenage rebels who have become parents are now nodding. You can rebel against something, but is the freedom you seek simply freedom from, or is it freedom to?
Give everyone what they want? Let everyone say anything they want to anyone any time?
The key to ‘tweaking’ decentralisation is that it is the community that determines the rules.
It is the consensus of individual values. It is well known that if you poll enough people what the market will do, surprisingly, the average response will be accurate — even where irrational factors are at play.
Similarly, if a community determines the rules for any system, those rules will reflect what is best for that community. Based on where the community is in its evolution, and what it is ready for.
Summerhill School is a famous democratic school in England that began in the 1920s. No rules were set. Study showed that in time the young people evolved their own rules. These rules were pretty much the same as those that the adults would have given them — but the key factor was a sense of ownership. The children were not obeying someone else’s rules, they were following their own. Hence their lives were in their own hands, and they were engaged in their own development, not checked out.
Which nation, emerging from colonisation, has not experienced some disorder? Which of us leaving home felt like we had it all under control all the time?
It is human nature to grow and evolve, and within this, be challenged and yes tested.
We need paradigms where there is room for growth and creativity. But the idea of absolute freedom in a world of limited resources, shared with other beings…is a naive fallacy. There is something in essence that is free in the human spirit, and always will be. Its natural expression is in art, music, creativity, love, compassion, dance, poetry and literature. It is why we are alive, and how we have survived smaller human ideas. It will always be with us. And it is founded on respect for others. It is often individual but exists in community.
There is more than one person in the world — so we need to talk.
