March 29, 2024

On fluid democracy: a dynamic form of the future

Edward DeLeon Hickman conducted research on and off while writing The Information Age of Abundance.came across the idea of ​​"fluid democracy."

The concept of fluid democracy is a naturalthe continuation of his research and reflection on how to build a better social network environment that would give society more favorable results in general, and in particular with regard to a distributed autonomous version of information identity.

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Your unique, portable and sustainable digital identity

Imagine that your account in your favorite social network is also your official, legal registered identifier in the economic system of which you are a member.Of course, one can assume a more strictdistributed, multi-layered approach to account security when going this route, but for the sake of argument let's assume that we can at least broadly trust this system with our personal information and the storage of some of our wealth.(Of course, it will take time for people to get used to it, but in some respects it is not too far from what we already accept in the case of electronic banking and current use of social networks).

Imagine also that through this official portal you can carry out all your usual financial and administrative functions:

  • Unhindered to send and receive money;
  • Convert currencies, buy and sell assets;
  • Track economic data, receive reports;
  • Manage your personal data and documents;
  • Communicate with other users;
  • In general, lead your life in the information age, from any device and from anywhere in the world ...

No geographical restrictions, no third-party control, only full, independent interaction with your digital life - and the associated responsibility for it.

Imagine participation in this system allowsyou get access to work, generate wealth, interact with other participants in the economy, build a business, make friends ... everything that you already use the Internet for, but instead of using third-party products, the system you use does not belong to someone specific , but is the collective property of all its users.

Collective abundance

To demonstrate this, imagine further that the system pays all or most of its economic income to its users every 24 hours.Each user has a true stake in the holistic system - your growth and success are inextricably and proportionately linked to the success of the ecosystem as a whole.

However, the system has rules that can adapt or change in real time.

Imagine that you, as an end user,You have an influence on how each aspect of the system functions. For example, imagine that users have decided that 50% of all economic inflation will go to clean the Pacific Ocean from plastic until the need for it disappears. Imagine that you can directly and meaningfully vote for it using a smart device - and you get an idea of ​​the transformative power and adaptability of such a system.

Delegative democracy

Of course, not everyone wants to follow everyonethe smallest events in your environment. In fact, this can lead to information overload. Wouldn't it be better to delegate your voting power to someone you trust, or even a team working around the clock on the issues that matter most to you? Can you imagine delegating the decision-making for you to a data-driven research team or think tank? Imagine that your vote also guarantees them funding for further functioning and that you can at any timestrip your support delegate or teamvoting on issues relevant to you.

It is the opportunity to deprive a representative of your voice or supportin real time, even before his voice was counted, and makes this system “fluid” or “fluid”.

The ability to deprive those who misrepresent, lie, or simply no longer see eye to eye with us, of their powers,criticalto build more efficient and accuraterepresentative government. Without a concrete way to deprive our representatives of their vote *before* they deviate from our point of view, we will continue to be drawn into the manipulative tactics of professional politicians who only need to win our vote during the election campaign, after which they can easily avoid fulfilling their promises with little or no consequences.

All this may seem a bit exaggerated...but similar systems already exist and have been successfully used for several years.

Delegated Proof of Ownership (DPoS)

Network delegation systems"delegated proof of work"(DPoS), although far from perfect, are a clear example of how such a system can work.

By reaching consensus through delegates,where network participants vote in real time, the network is able to function efficiently and reliably, as proven by the many DPoS projects that exist today, valued at billions of dollars. DPoS systems, invented by Dan Larimer, known for his work at Steemit and EOS, involve the election of witnesses and delegates in a transparent and accountable network where all participants have an interest in fair governance, without the energy requirements of traditional consensus.“Evidence of work”.

Despite the increasing useactive and successful blockchain projects, DPoS networks are still far from perfect. They are still evolving, and there are certain risks associated with them. They are theoretically susceptible to manipulation by cartels, which can dominate and control the system. To minimize this risk in the long term, you can force the network to check and interact with other networks(e.g. with Bitcoin blockchain)and allow users to migrate to another network if necessary.

A backend network that provides fluid democracy is not a real problem. The real challenge is for the interfaces to work well enough for a global audience to join the network.

Despite unequal distribution, the future is inevitable

Nevertheless, the future does not come for everyone at the same time.

Although the author of the article has been dealing withwith such networks, there is still a lot of work - in particular, on the interfaces and functionality provided by the applications to end users - before we can get an idea of ​​what our life will look like under such management. Managing our society — our governments and economies — through distributed autonomous systems that act as impartial third parties that are also unwavering, incorruptible, and lack internal motivation, remains our ultimate goal.

And this is a truly long-term vision.

The process began when we transformed ourcommunication and media in the information age system. Next, we need to transform our financial instruments, our economic ecosystems and, finally, our ways of organizing social contracts.

We like to think that we live in an information age.but actually this transition has just begun andThere is still a lot of work to do. For most of the global population in 2019, this has not yet become a reality. Our economic and regulatory entities are still largely stuck at the level of the second industrial revolution, so until we make them as transparent, open and global as the Internet, we cannot truly claim that we live in the information age - at least in the substantial sense of what it can potentially give to each of us individually and to humanity as a whole.

As always, it all starts with the end user.

Future systems will be built so thatcoincide with the interests of end users, as they will build them. Think about it the next time someone from the older generation tells you that this industry is sheer fraud or a waste of time. No matter how successful these people were in the previous century, their informational and cultural consciousness is outdated. Those who lack imagination and foresight to grasp the potential of the new paradigm will be left behind.

New systems seem like a waste of time to them because they are not made for them.

The new global information ecosystem will reflect a new generation of ideas and, most importantly, will provide a real opportunity to leave behind all the mistakes (and debts) of old systems.

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