Decred | The Power to Think for Oneself
An idea is not so much about the idea itself, but rather its influencing quality on an individual. Has the individual simply inherited the concept of the idea, or has the individual actually wrestled with it, subdued it, and made it their own?
To view the subjective consequences of the former, lets view the entirety of the crypto populace as the market. Suppose, for instance, that the crypto consumer’s taste have deteriorated and veered mainly towards ‘shitcoins’. Blockchain projects with no substantial purpose or value spring up by the thousands and quality projects have their share of the market taken away or they fade away for a lack of market. All in all, this phenomenon seemed to occur frequently in the bull run of 2017, followed by its decline in 2018.
In the case of the market where shitcoins rise to the top, one cannot fault these projects themselves, nor their devs who have copied and pasted code, or even the questionable CEOs and teams whom push these projects on the mass of crypto consumers and holders. All these individuals or pools of individuals were simply catering to the general taste of the market. The market always determines who the successful purveyors, or in crypto’s case, projects, are to be.
The market does not always emphasize the quality of products. It usually moreso relies on the overall IQ, or lack thereof, of the market participants. The only blame or credit lies in the market itself.
We see the same occurrence happen in the political spectrum on a daily basis. Where there is a lack of healthy skepticism, we find individuals falling prey to the cliche, the shallow promise, and the lie. Emotional appeals and pretty promises become the guidelines for acceptance. The market — the general populace — believes the hype of the empty rhetoric enough that it begins to become the compass of the town, the state, the nation. In the process charlatans, narcissists, power seekers, and deception artists come out of the woodwork, rising to the political top.
Transfer this political allegory over to the crypto realm and we find not only the emergence of, but the general rise of ‘shitcoins’, over promising ICOs, and shallowly conceived ECOs.
In short, the market allows ‘the concept’ to merely inherit it.
The Market & The Luminous Individual
Now in the case of the crypto market, reverse the situation and assume that only quality projects(those defined by integral fundamentals, sound SOV concepts, concrete security, and fluid scalability with features to adapt) become the creme de la creme that rise to the top . ‘Projects’ with no real value continue to die out or become displaced.
One can formulate that as the quality of projects rise in the market thus the overall general IQ of the market and its participants does as well.
This theory has been introduced and summarized by Adaptive Capital CIO Murad Mahmudov several times over. Mahmudov proposes that with each new bull run the median IQ of the overall market and its participants is raised. Sovereign individuals with the ability to think for theirselves , skeptical to buy in to mere projects due to hype or flacid promise, begin to hopefully become more the norm.
Its a cyclical process. Bull runs cause projects to rise, adding one aspect of strength to the market. Bear runs flush out the median to weaker projects and levels of thinking , in hindsight only strengthening the core of ‘built to last’ blockchains as well as the market itself.
Now a market left to operate unto itself, with the ability for it to be its own set of scales, is a market that is allowed to innovate and evolve. And with the evolution of markets we find a natural selection process of ‘stupid’ money and inferior projects either ceasing to exist or settling at the bottom, while ‘smart’ money and all encompassing projects rise to the top.
Assume that this particular market is one made up of persons who do their own thinking and, as a consequence, possess a healthy level of skepticism. They are hardheaded persons of economy who are defined by poignant abilities to define true store of value. Their introspective faculty peruses the market, as well as life, in such a way that introspection itself becomes as natural as eating and breathing.
This person— the type who has fully wrestled with and understands the sovereign power that comes with thinking for oneself— is one that we shall simply refer to as the “luminous individual”.
Decred | The Luminary Project
So enters Decred, the DAO self governing store of value project that, since inception, has been commandeering these “luminous individuals” one by one.
The luminous individual realizes that he is not the culmination of the Decred project, its sovereignty, nor its governance knowledge all in himself, nor that it exists in any one person, yet realizes his responsibility to do his own part within the governing statute. Each individual within Decred, views it through a tiny aperture. No two apertures, no two views within Decred, are exactly alike. Your wisdom and voice as well as mine, such as they are, can be likened to two seperate candles, each different from the other, each alone being barely perceptible. However pair your wisdom and voice with mine as well as with that of other Politeia participants and you find an overall remarkable governing wisdom, likened to that of an over-all luminosity.
“……..Decred is creatively steeped in adaptable code, driven by voices of an opt-in citizenry immersed in solvent self thought.”
This culmination of sovereign individuals, each grounded in the luminosity of self thought, is one of the bastions of the Decred project.
Since its inception, Decred has been that of the highest undertaking. But what is it that makes it so? If it is only “luminous” due to ones labeling it as so, then it is only grounded in half-speak, filled with fleeting promises like that of the charlatans and politicians mentioned previously. Thankfully this isnt the case.
From its scarcity and staking models, to its self funding and governance models, to its hybrid consensus security and fork resistant nature, to its ability to adapt overtime, Decred’s strong points are those that are immeasurable until likely decades from now. Pair this with the knowledgable foresight of its founders/devs as well as its intuitive adopters overtime, and one will find Decred is creatively steeped in adaptable code, driven by voices of an opt-in citizenry immersed in solvent self thought.
Symbiotically, it is blockchains’s living organism, compatible to adapt to what it needs to be at any given moment, ever growing at the helm of self thinking individuals spread across a decentralized democracy.
Putting a value on the intricate wisdom found in self governance can be a challenging feat to undertake. Decred, however, is doing just that. Accordingly, the market will fall in compliance to its final sovereign price tag at some point in the unforeseeable future.
*It should be noted the author holds Decred. The previous written material is not offered as financial advice, but rather as blockchain philosophy and money theory.
