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DAOs & Guilds are re-emerging in the Age of Information to serve a similar purpose as many guilds of the Medieval Ages
A Thread on "What is the point of DAOs anyway?"
1 of 10
A Thread on "What is the point of DAOs anyway?"
1 of 10
The "Hanseatic League," or simply "The Hansa," was a confederation of ~200 guilds which persisted between the 13th and 17th centuries in Northern Europe
The Hansa rose to prominence as a means to subvert feudalism - a social system comprised largely of conflicting and overlapping allegiances to various royals & nobles (ie, allegiances were not as clear cut as this pyramid might suggest)
The Hansa successfully subverted this feudalistic system by leveraging a new type of organizational structure: "the guild"
The "guild" enabled people to organize themselves with more efficiency than if they relied solely on their Nobles & Knights
The "guild" enabled people to organize themselves with more efficiency than if they relied solely on their Nobles & Knights
Instead of allocating resources solely within the confines of basic feudalistic hierarchies, crafters and merchants began trading their goods and services directly among one another, across various territories
This gave rise to the first "common market"
This gave rise to the first "common market"
The rise of the common market via medieval guilds coincided with the fall of feudalism
“[Guilds] will re-emerge in place of the dying nation-state in the new millennium, providing protection and helping to enforce contracts in an unsafe world.” (p25)
“[Guilds] will re-emerge in place of the dying nation-state in the new millennium, providing protection and helping to enforce contracts in an unsafe world.” (p25)
Similar to the rise of the Hanseatic League, we are now seeing an emergence of distributed networks, like Ethereum
These distributed networks give rise to new kinds of trans-territorial guilds in the Information Age, which will subvert our modern feudalistic system: kleptocracy
These distributed networks give rise to new kinds of trans-territorial guilds in the Information Age, which will subvert our modern feudalistic system: kleptocracy
Modern guilds (DAOs), enabled by distributed networks, fill a similar gap to those of medieval times: they provide a mechanism for coordination that extends beyond local communities and are more effective at solving narrow problems than relying on nation-states and corporations
Instead of aligning ourselves within the confines of rigid nationalist and corporate structures, people and their resources will now begin to flow freely between various organizations: DAOs & digital guilds
This will give rise to the first kind of "common sovereignty"
This will give rise to the first kind of "common sovereignty"
Common Sovereignty = easily & voluntarily *opt-in and out of* everything
Catch @AlBerreman & me tomorrow at @build_eth in SF, where we'll be discussing DAOs and their impact on society on the main stage
And if you're a developer or active community builder interested in a free ticket to the event, retweet this thread & DM me
And if you're a developer or active community builder interested in a free ticket to the event, retweet this thread & DM me
