Governance-by-Fork, not Force

Bitcoin has thought me many things about money, energy, time, work, corruption… even physics. But maybe the most important was the possibility of a better, faster, incorruptible consensus mechanism among an infinite number of stakeholders. In permissionless and trustless way. This is not something to take for granted!

In a world with 7 billion people with different opinions, how do we decide what is good for us? Till today, exactly because of the lack of such a mechanism, we had to outsource the task of deciding to someone else. At places where you have democracy, it is actually an indirect democracy and people elect through direct vote the constituents that will make their decisions for them (without, however, being accountable for this decisions). I’ve always accepted that this was how it had to be (something I now regret given the importance of these decisions in our lives).

“Life is defined by the choices we make”

Woody Allen

But I think I was resigned, convinced that there was no way out.

“Indeed it has been said that democracy is the worst form of Government except for all those other forms that have been tried from time to time”

Winston Churchill

And then there was #Bitcoin… The permissionless, incorruptible, 51% consensus mechanism has not only though us but demonstrated that we don’t need to further outsource choice. We can vote (or not), anonymously, securely, online, for any and every feature of a system or a government, just by running a node of the network on your cell phones.

You can still delegate your vote, but to anyone at anytime. You can also, more importantly, revoke this voting power at any time. This fact alone rebalances completely the power structure of democracy. The constituinte is no longer a gate keeper and a point source of failure (of corruption). You also don’t have to make compromises with constituents that share some of your views but not all of them.

Permissionless, private (no KYC), secure, trustless, incorruptible consensus mechanism brings something else, the ultimate freedom of choice: the power of becoming more of voter, but a creator. You can choose, you can fund and you can stake.

In these systems, no one can force you, or anyone one else, to do anything. You cannot buy, sell, bully, extort, intimidate, punish, bribe, kidnap, freeze, arrest a vote negative to your interests if you don’t know who the voter is.

In these systems, the only tool that you have at your disposal is seduction: you have to share your vision of the world, your competences and skills to build it, to persuade people to, freely and anonymously, vote for you. Join the world or the reality that you are creating.

TRUE #loyalty comes from #freedom, not #force. Freedom to ENTER and EXIT a REALITY that you clearly communicate and build. It is the #governance_by_fork (seduction)! If you have to force ADOPTION (revolution), even if you WIN, you LOOSE.

— tagomago | Mauro Rebelo (@tagomago_me) March 17, 2022

#domenicodemasipucpr o poder é tomado com 'graça' ou com a revolução

— tagomago | Mauro Rebelo (@tagomago_me) May 10, 2012

This is what I understand by governance by fork, not by force. The real freedom, as balsais says, is the freedom to enter and exit a system .

51% democracy vs ~100% democracy

In a 51% democracy you just barely pass the bar, and then assume all will do as you say. They won't.

The ideal is actually a ~100% democracy. An opt-in society, where everyone has chosen to be there. And can leave.

— Balaji (@balajis) February 21, 2022

Old worlds can still exist in a fork, as long as people who are free to choose to stay, want to live there. Adoption became the ultimate metric of a system. Real community members, not hostages disguised as customers.

This is the way to build the future.