For most of time, humans lived in a world where the power was consolidated into the hands of a few kings or queens. Then a few hundred years ago, with America leading the way, that shifted into more decentralized/democratic systems, and the power was spread out over the people. As a result, overall quality of life started to improve immensely. After 1776, America was the most decentralized governance system on Earth, and with that came lots of opportunity. People lined up from countries all over the world to move to America. They were not moving to America for the land, or for the people. No, they were moving for The American Dream: a chance to live inside a system that nurtured creativity, individualism, knowledge discovery, and freedom to choose one’s own path.
This made me think of a client I had the other day. She works for the FBI doing Medicare fraud investigations and says a fraud wont even hit their radar unless it’s over a million dollars. The thought that the more centralized a function is, the more ripe is it for corruption is certainly true.
Something else changed around 1776. The world passed one billion living souls and did not fall back to 500 million. And it has not stopped. Too few people are in charge. Judges ought to be panels of 5, for every judicial event. Time for an end to monarchs, presidents, and singular power points.
I love this! Yet.. how do we get from here to there? I have often wondered how Bitcoin and other cryptos will evolve, as govt currently has the upper hand, as a regulator.
I have worked in regulated financial services.. the burden is heavy, the outcomes inconsistent, and generally smaller entities lose. But none of it is optional, unfortunately.
Some things need to be centralised and those should be managed as transparently as possible. Having the foreign policy of a country managed by a group of trusted (drawn from the best leaders that the decentralised groups can offer) would be good for the country. If the process is open and other countries share the process the open countries could stand together against propaganda/sanctions/lobbying of closed countries.
The goal really is to have systems that are so easy to understand because they are open that the man in the street actually understands and agrees with the good policy.
Nice essay. I would push the time scale back. You mentioned the last 50- 20 years we have seen consolidation of power. This was made possible because the levers of that power were institutionalized at the end of the 19th century into the early 20th. Power began consolidating a long time ago, which made possible what we are seeing now. The train came off the tracks a long time ago.
Trust science (the scientific method; note, it's an error-checking system), but not Science™. Burn Vannevar Bush in effigy, and scatter his remains far and wide!
*After 1776, America was the most decentralized governance system on Earth, and with that came lots of opportunity. People lined up from countries all over the world to move to America. They were not moving to America for the land, or for the people. No, they were moving for The American Dream: a chance to live inside a system that nurtured creativity, individualism, knowledge discovery, and freedom to choose one’s own path.*
And seeing how Humanity, unshackled from the limits of the small minds of the European Monarchs, began to thrive, the Distorter, the Deep State had their apparatchik John Jay Marshall of 1820 SCOTUS fame render the verdict that basically destroyed the America dream:
*A wrongfully sued defendant has no recourse upon the frivolous plaintiff because to allow such would tend to deny a poor man his day in court.*
Error-correcting must start with the information system, where transparency and trust begin. How can readers be chastised for confusing facts with opinions when the writers themselves no longer see the difference?
I'm all for decentralization, but framing a nation built on Indigenous genocide and Black enslavement as the bringer of democracy is not the way to do it. The US has always been a country with power consolidated in the hands of few. They just learned how to use the media to tell lies better to give the illusion of democracy.
"America" led the way to decentralized/democratic systems? No, Indigenous people were already doing that, but the colonizers wanted their land, so they killed them. Turtle Island wasn't enough, so the US spread its empire around the world. Not everyone came to the US willingly. The US bombed and destabilized countries to exploit resources so folks had nowhere to go but the very place that destroyed their homes.
Also, it didn't correct any of its mistakes. It just hid them better or temporarily corrected them. Slavery reformed to the prison system. Abortion is illegal again and child labor is legal again.
If we want to look at the root cause of things, we must first understand the true nature of the US, not through the romanticized tales it has fed its citizens. Without that understanding, we will get nowhere because the US is the reason for much of the turmoil we see in the world today. With decentralization must come decolonization.
Bibles, Qur'ans, Churches, private religious schools, religious leaders & extremists should ALSO be on the "bad/centralized" list, especially toxic religions such as Christianity, Islam, Mormonism & Scientology.
You can also include all corrupt politicians as well. They & religious leaders are nothing more than liars. Thieves. Grifters. Charlatans.
This made me think of a client I had the other day. She works for the FBI doing Medicare fraud investigations and says a fraud wont even hit their radar unless it’s over a million dollars. The thought that the more centralized a function is, the more ripe is it for corruption is certainly true.
Something else changed around 1776. The world passed one billion living souls and did not fall back to 500 million. And it has not stopped. Too few people are in charge. Judges ought to be panels of 5, for every judicial event. Time for an end to monarchs, presidents, and singular power points.
I love this! Yet.. how do we get from here to there? I have often wondered how Bitcoin and other cryptos will evolve, as govt currently has the upper hand, as a regulator.
I have worked in regulated financial services.. the burden is heavy, the outcomes inconsistent, and generally smaller entities lose. But none of it is optional, unfortunately.
Good ideas.
Some things need to be centralised and those should be managed as transparently as possible. Having the foreign policy of a country managed by a group of trusted (drawn from the best leaders that the decentralised groups can offer) would be good for the country. If the process is open and other countries share the process the open countries could stand together against propaganda/sanctions/lobbying of closed countries.
The goal really is to have systems that are so easy to understand because they are open that the man in the street actually understands and agrees with the good policy.
Nice essay. I would push the time scale back. You mentioned the last 50- 20 years we have seen consolidation of power. This was made possible because the levers of that power were institutionalized at the end of the 19th century into the early 20th. Power began consolidating a long time ago, which made possible what we are seeing now. The train came off the tracks a long time ago.
Trust science (the scientific method; note, it's an error-checking system), but not Science™. Burn Vannevar Bush in effigy, and scatter his remains far and wide!
*After 1776, America was the most decentralized governance system on Earth, and with that came lots of opportunity. People lined up from countries all over the world to move to America. They were not moving to America for the land, or for the people. No, they were moving for The American Dream: a chance to live inside a system that nurtured creativity, individualism, knowledge discovery, and freedom to choose one’s own path.*
And seeing how Humanity, unshackled from the limits of the small minds of the European Monarchs, began to thrive, the Distorter, the Deep State had their apparatchik John Jay Marshall of 1820 SCOTUS fame render the verdict that basically destroyed the America dream:
*A wrongfully sued defendant has no recourse upon the frivolous plaintiff because to allow such would tend to deny a poor man his day in court.*
Error-correcting must start with the information system, where transparency and trust begin. How can readers be chastised for confusing facts with opinions when the writers themselves no longer see the difference?
I'm all for decentralization, but framing a nation built on Indigenous genocide and Black enslavement as the bringer of democracy is not the way to do it. The US has always been a country with power consolidated in the hands of few. They just learned how to use the media to tell lies better to give the illusion of democracy.
"America" led the way to decentralized/democratic systems? No, Indigenous people were already doing that, but the colonizers wanted their land, so they killed them. Turtle Island wasn't enough, so the US spread its empire around the world. Not everyone came to the US willingly. The US bombed and destabilized countries to exploit resources so folks had nowhere to go but the very place that destroyed their homes.
Also, it didn't correct any of its mistakes. It just hid them better or temporarily corrected them. Slavery reformed to the prison system. Abortion is illegal again and child labor is legal again.
If we want to look at the root cause of things, we must first understand the true nature of the US, not through the romanticized tales it has fed its citizens. Without that understanding, we will get nowhere because the US is the reason for much of the turmoil we see in the world today. With decentralization must come decolonization.
Bibles, Qur'ans, Churches, private religious schools, religious leaders & extremists should ALSO be on the "bad/centralized" list, especially toxic religions such as Christianity, Islam, Mormonism & Scientology.
You can also include all corrupt politicians as well. They & religious leaders are nothing more than liars. Thieves. Grifters. Charlatans.
Hello, what do you mean by "decentralization"?