Decentralize Everything!

Decentralization is one of the three best ways we can make the world a better place for everyone.

We have a problem.

Our governments and many institutions have been captured by powerful special interests working together, and they no longer serve the people.

Almost everyone paying attention understands this problem. The problem at its core is the corruption of the systems that govern over our lives. So let’s get past simply identifying the problem. Let’s talk solutions.

The bigger and more centralized an entity gets, the more dangerous it often becomes. So we need to be careful here. What’s the best response to dismantle a monolithic entity without harming ourselves in the process?

Let’s discuss innovative decentralization techniques:

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A beautiful example of an innovative decentralized technique at work is how the massive music industries were almost dissolved entirely in just a few years by kids in their dorm rooms using the peer-to-peer sharing websites like Napster and Kazaa. (I wrote more on that here.)

There is a brilliant book called The Starfish and the Spider: The Unstoppable Power of Leaderless Organizations, and in it is described two main types of organizations: Ones with leaders - or heads - which the book calls “spider” organizations (because spiders have heads). And then “starfish” organizations - ones without leaders or heads - or decentralized ones.

What happens when you cut off the head of a spider? It dies. Just like businesses often do when they lose their original owner or CEO. Or like armies do when they lose their general. Or empires do when their leadership is killed. But what about leaderless “Starfish” organizations? When you cut off the arm of a starfish what happens? It grows back. What about when you cut it in half? Two starfish grow. This is because a starfish is decentralized. It has no obvious head to attack.

What we are witnessing today is a classic Starfish vs Spider battle. We the people are the starfish, while the oligarch network group in control is the spider.

There are two caveats, though. First, is that the oligarchs in control like to keep a low profile. They don’t want you to know who is really pulling the strings. So they don’t do it in the open. Dark money in politics, side deals, insider trading tips, massive fees for mundane tasks like speaker fees or homemade artwork, or company job positions that pay way above qualifications for certain family members of the politicians willing to play ball.

The second caveat is that the starfish in this case (we the people) is only partially aware it is even being attacked. Some of us see the threat, sure. But many of us are too scared to look (which I get, it is scary and requires bravery to even want to see it). Sadly, some people are downright in denial, or worse - are even working to further the agenda of the imperialistic spider. So the entire starfish isn’t in the battle yet. The more and more people who come to the realization, the better chance the starfish has of adapting safely.

So for those of us who have achieved the realization already, let’s discuss solutions.

Let’s talk about the three best ways humans can work together to shield against tyranny:

1 - Transparency in Government - As I recently wrote about about here: One thing we can all agree on is that our system is corrupted. How do we fix it? Well, the enemy of corruption is transparency. So we need to ask: How can we shine the brightest lights on government for all of us to see what is really going on? Our votes are meaningless unless we know what’s really happening with spending, policy, conflicts of interest, and more. We need political candidates we can vote for (it honestly doesn’t matter what side they are on if they are true to the assignment) whose main mission is to get into the system and shine lights on it for all of us to see, and expose the corruption from within. Or better yet, find candidates who will change the laws so the system naturally becomes more transparent and harder to corrupt.

2- Decentralization of everything - Think about how decentralized cryptocurrency is threatening control over the system of money. Think about how decentralized independent journalism has absolutely destroyed the mainstream media’s ability to control peoples’ opinions. Think about how home schooling is destroying the ability for public schools to be indoctrination grounds. Now let’s turn that same mindset to government. How can we use technology to decentralize our ability to govern for, of, and by the people? There is a plan for this. In fact it has already been partially and successfully instituted in one country, and the beginning of the plan is outlined in detail here. We just need enough people on task.

3 - Group consumer advocacy - this should be a no-brainer. Why hasn’t someone come up with a good widely-used app that uses open sourcing to disclose all of the nefarious allegations against corporations so we as people can buy in bulk together, or boycott companies together to advocate for change? I would be first in line to subscribe to an app like this. Imagine if before you gave a company money you knew things like how transparent they were with their finances. Or if you had up-to-date data on how the company treated their workforce, the environment, their customers, and their communities - in real time before you made a purchase. Imagine if you could see how your peers felt about the company as well.

Any system that counts on human morals to work, is flawed. Because humans are flawed. As Naval Ravikant says: “A true test of a good system is to be able to turn it over to your enemies to run and see if they can break it. If it still runs well, it is a good system.”

But right now our system has been gamed. It’s hacked. And it is too difficult to fight the people trying to break it. They are too big and too centralized. Instead, we need to improve and innovate the current system, using technology to our advantage. We need to make the system as unhackable as possible, and this can be done in a relatively short period of time if we get enough problem solvers and people-of-action working on the problems at hand.

If you really want to go down the rabbit hole on how we can use decentralization techniques in government, then read this.

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As always the entire purpose of this is to connect with other solutions-minded people like yourself! For 4 billion years on this planet there were only single-celled organisms. Then one day they somehow learned to work together and make complex multi-celled creatures like you and me. Right now we are like those single-celled organisms. Our next evolution is finding how to work together, better.

In order to build the world we want to see we will need technology to help us. Please join the upcoming discussions in this group on the blockchain based social media platform called MINDS. There is no algorithm or censorship on this platform. Just the free exchange of ideas. The group was recently started but if we can get a few like-minded people working together, maybe we can be the catalyst that leads to a post scarcity world. HERE IS THE GROUP ON MINDS.

If you enjoyed this topic we explore it in several other articles we wrote here, here, and here.

Thanks for problem solving with us, you beautiful, rational creature.

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About the author:
Josh R. Ketry - Director of Strategy and Systems - is an advocate for freedom, human growth, and human potential. A Brazilian Jiu Jitsu blackbelt and Academy owner. Growth Mindset student (for life). Entrepreneur. Writer. Philosophy fan. Long-time carnivore diet practitioner for autoimmune issues. Birder. Muskie fisherman. Photographer. No topic off limits. Thank you for reading!