We all heard the arguments about the -isms. Capitalism. Socialism. Marxism. Communism. What is the best system?
The answer is that it does not matter.
Our systems are dynamic and evolving. They do not wait around for labels. Instead, they chug along based upon the activities of billions of participants, continually changing.
These are complex entities, far beyond the comprehension of most. Even those who know a great deal only see a small piece of the puzzle. In this way, we could state that it is all passed human control.
The evolution comes as a result of human innovation. We excel at the law of unintended consequences. Results are often haphazard. This is not always negative. After all, the story goes that Post-It Notes were the result of trying to find a super strong adhesive.
As we remake the world through cryptocurrency, we are seeing a new -ism start to step forward.
Digital assets are changing everything. We are seeing existing systems that did not gain much traction starting to emerge due to the digital realm. One area that is receiving renewed attention, without being noticed, is the cooperative.
Over the centuries, these took on many forms. The basic essence is the organization existed for the benefit of its members. Ownership and participation were interwoven. They account for billions of dollars in value yet are still a drop in the bucket compared to the rest of the financial and economic system.
The drawback, traditionally, was scaling. Cooperatives operate well with few people located in close proximity to each other. When they grew in size, they tended to fail. Distance also was fatal since individual priorities could override the desires for the entity as a whole.
Digitization changes all of this. As we know, communication is now near-instant online. We can see how digital cooperatives are forming and can easily scale. Something like Hive is a prime example of how the new model of cooperatives is unfolding.
We often use the world "community". There is a lot of merit to this yet it is something bigger. We are not just seeing the ability to bring people together. With these new developments, new economies are forming. There is a monetary and financial component. At the same time, ownership rights are being rewritten as smart contracts evolve.
Therefore, we are looking at a new economic model forming that will only grow in value over the next few decades.
The corporation is the basic business structure for capitalism. For the last 200 years, it helped to foster the greatest growth period in human history. While there certainly are some drawbacks to what corporations do, there is no denying the impact on economic progress.
We are seeing a new business structure emerge, the DAO. This is helping to lead us into the era of cooperativism.
A DAO is nothing more than an extension of the cooperative idea. It brings together people based around a particular subject or topic. Depending upon the goals, each person is assigned stake in the entity. Governance can be applied, with real-time voting possible. The stakeholders are the central part to the entire model.
Here we see how roles are blurred. With the corporation, we have shareholders, employees, consumers (users), and external stakeholders. While many can overlap, the reality is few do. Employees might have some shares in the corporation but it is usually a small amount compared to Wall Street investment funds. This causes a breakdown in the different interests.
DAOs align the interests of the different parties. One of the keys is how this is voluntary. Nothing is forced upon people. They are free to come and go as seen fit.
For example, ConstitutionDAO was a project that sought to buy an original copy of the United States Constitution. People from all over the world provided funding to achieve this end. Ultimately, the bid failed but it does show the potential. Nobody was required to get involved. Also, the tokens could have been sold, causing exit from the cooperative.
DAOs are in their early stages and will go through many evolutions over the next few years. As stated, evolution in the digital realm results from innovation. With more people starting to experiment with them, things will move rather quickly.
Few look at Hive as a cooperative yet that is exactly what it is. Like anything else, nobody is forced to participate. It is complete voluntary.
The stakeholders are the ones in charge of the entity. Through a governance model, each person has a say in the direction taken. Individuals and teams are working on different projects, each tying into something that requires no permission.
The who understand this can take the ownership mindset. Stakeholders can look at Hive as their own because that is exactly what it is. Here is where traditional entities are going to run into trouble.
One of the key factors is the scalability of a system like this. There are people from all over the world involved. Most do not know each other and will likely never meet. However, they are interconnected and dependent to a degree. Here is where self interest is tapered. Blockchain establishes rules which everyone has to live by. This puts the needs of the cooperative ahead of individual perspectives.
Code Is Law is the mantra.
Hive can be viewed as an economy, community, or business entity. This is the essence of cooperativism. There is no separation in this regard.
Another way of looking at this is community-based economics.
Of course, this can keep being broken down into smaller units, all maintaining the same characteristics. This is going to be the foundation for the next economic model that emerges.
We are truly watching a new -ism forming right before our eyes. In fact, we are all part of it.
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