The Future of Democracy with Web3

The priciples of truly democractic systems are applicable to all organizational structures, think of corporations, communities, societies, schools, and more. Our environment involves economic, political, social and technological forces, one must really ask the question: if all these forces aren’t democratic, is anything truly democratic at all?

Democracy, as the saying goes, is the worst form of government, except for all the others (Churchill). Essentially, it’s the best we have so far. The great thing about it is that it embodies collective intelligence because it gives way for diverse perspectives to converge.

I recently wrapped up “The Wisdom of Crowds” by James Surowiecki. The book showcases a truly remarkable phenomenon where medians consistently converge to the closest response to a correct answer.

Picture a jar of jelly beans; the collective guesses of many, when averaged, astonishingly align with the actual count.

It’s a testament to the idea that together, we are greater than the sum of our individual parts. This concept is nothing new. It can be attributed to some elements of democracy, except that democracy relies on majority rule while the wisdom of crowds relies on the “mid-point” also known as the median.

The difference between majority rule and the mid-point is that the latter embraces collaboration in a full spectrum while democracy does not.

I know it’s like comparing apples to oranges and surely, that’s not the point of this article. I’ve been thinking about how to put this into perspective, here’s what I got:

If we were to consider how the median can be qualifiable then think of it as the central tendency within the ordered set of qualitative data. It’s the distributions mid-point, not necessarily its majority.

In the case of politics, you could imagine candidates represented on a scale of 1 to 5, with 1 representing the far left and 5 representing the far right. During a poll, voters can choose which candidate policies they believe are most needed now. In a democratic vote, the person with the most votes wins but the mid-point would represent so much more. It would find the candidate most likely to embrace views that are agreeable with both spectrums.

In humanity’s quest for a more equitable world, finding the mid-point feels like a happier way to do things. And it can apply to every level of our environment; politics, economy, society, and technology.

Enter Web3 — a realm that promises a more collective world at every turn.

At the heart of this promise are DAOs, or Decentralized Autonomous Organizations. DAOs leverage blockchain to create collective decision-making that’s based on the wisdom of crowds. They offer a more inclusive and transparent alternative by distributing power and ensuring that decisions are made collectively, without central authorities.

Consider Decent DAO, an example that is making waves. It’s an on-chain, privacy-focused builder collective accelerating the decentralization of vital institutions. It is showcasing the transformative power of distrubuted governance models. The company behind it, Decent Labs, is on a mission to unite builders toward global decentralization with their open-source collective.

They have launched over 30 cryptocurrency products with their unique agency-meets-accelerator model which invites entrepreneurs to develop solution that help shape how we interact with our world wide web. They are at the intersection of financial tech and digital rights, which means a DAO was the edge they needed to showcase to the world how possible it is to operate with the wisdom of crowds or as they put it ‘community empowerment’ and so they built Decent DAO, which, as they put it, are rebuilding trust in technology.

Starting a DAO is within reach for anyone passionate about a cause. With decentralized tools and blockchain platforms, the process is accessible. Imagine a world where individuals can come together, propose ideas, and collectively shape the mission and vision of a company. Not to mention, it distributes the bottom line fairly. It’s a governance system that is rather timely as news of corporations favouring profits over security and technical advancements become ever more frequent.

As we stand at a crossroads between traditional governance and the promising landscape of web3 DAOs, we could be witnessing a shift towards a more democratic, transparent, and inclusive global society. There’s still lots to consider. For one, we have to ensure that its evolution aligns with the principles of equity and true democracy.

In my next article, I’ll talk about the potential shortfalls of DAOs including security, inequality, and misinformation. But for now, let’s bask in the reality that there is a technology where the wisdom of crowds converges digitally offering a beacon of hope for a future where power truly rests in the hands of the many.