DAOs and the Power of Self-Organization

We’re aware now. The power and the opportunity to be visionary and creative is right before us. We can do our own thinking and have people join us. The most hopeful changes I see have less to do with the tangible technology (great as it is) that is in front of us, and more to do with the underlying structures and philosophies. I can only describe these the same way a mathematician describes a formula as elegant, or the way a musician hears a drum corps, all in a line, bells up, full volume, coming in step towards the screaming crowd. It is triumphant, simple and empowering. I am talking here about bottom-up, emergent behavior. Self-organizing systems. Rather than “executing notes on a page” or top-down spoon feeding of content to students or playing video games that everyone else is playing, we might use video game hours onine to fix real societal problems or, as students, start working on real problems to solve and building businesses or portfolios online. 

Distributed Autonomous Organizations now give us the potential to create self-organizing systems which could provide opportunities to creative people and visionaries to be part of larger, like-minded groups. The words that Robin Williams spoke in the movie Dead Poets Society reappear in my head… “that you are here--that life exists, and identity; that the powerful play goes on and you may contribute a verse.”

Note: I excerpted this from a piece which I wrote for the artist Sebastian Schmieg. 

For more on DAOs, I highly recommend this article: 

Music Performance as Metaphor for the Online World

Age 7. First French Horn lesson. I knew that letters of the alphabet represented notes, so when Mr. Sadlier asked me what note I wanted to play first, I said “L” since that was the first letter in my name. He politely told me that was not a note, and of course, I asked “why not?” Kids have great imaginations. Later, I would learn that music was a metaphor for the connected world. You make your sound. You know immediately if it’s any good. It either blends or does not. When the band plays, the whole becomes greater than the sum of its parts. Yet, like the Silicon Valley employee who had ideas of his own, I couldn’t help feeling like a technician who was only allowed to execute. No interpretation. So, I conducted my own experiment while playing in a musical. I would intentionally delay hitting certain notes. To my amazement, this created a train wreck as the conductor altered his baton and everyone who was following him changed what they were doing. I stopped and smiled. It was just an experiment.

Note: This was excerpted from a project I worked on for the artist Sebastian Schmieg. 

Random Thoughts on Words

More random observations here: https://twitter.com/Zoidge

The Problem With Standardized Testing

Content Strategy, Writing, Infographics, Flow Charts, Research and More!

Lee Chazen

Writer, Artist, Musician, Content Strategist

M: (916) 759-6231

E: lchazen@gmail.com

A:

US

Hire me on Freelancer.com

Let’s Get Smaller: Why the U.S. Needs to Think Smaller to Achieve its Objectives

Note: I wrote this over five years ago, but never posted it. I'm not sure why. But after reading it again, I realized it still pertains to the problems of "group think" and institutional behavior in the U.S. 

Straight lines, like the walls that hold up our houses make us feel safe and secure.  Right angles and symmetry are pleasing to the eye as well.  Most prefer a balanced checkbook and an efficient engine that does what it’s supposed to.  But, there’s a time when linearity and large institutions can also bring a nation down.  This thought came to mind recently while, of all things, watching a show on PT boats on the History Channel - that during WWII, when there was a draft and more of the general public served in the armed forces there was a mixture of all types of people – inner city, rural, coastal, Southern, Midwesterners – a giant diverse slice of what makes this country great.  There was also innovation.  By crafting a smaller, wooden, maneuverable ship, we were able to change our tactics, go into more intricate places, and deliver unexpected attacks.  The boat itself attracted a kind of maverick that might have brought a certain spirit to the US military. 

In the age now of specificity, departments and polarization, these types of mixtures might be missing from large institutions like the pentagon.  Has anyone stopped to think that large institutions, though solid and patriotic, might not be attracting a wide enough array of personality types?  What if the problem with, for example, fighting the insurgency in Iraq was really a matter of bringing different, innovative, non-linear and creative types into the Pentagon.  Instead of acting like a behemoth, a slow moving empire that wins by force alone, we could act like the insurgents that we are fighting.  Of course, the policy that created the war might have been crafted differently too, had more people been involved in the decision-making process itself.  Now, we find ourselves searching for creative answers to an old, rigid and unimaginative policy.  This rigidity keeps the "creative class" on the outside, unable or uninvited to lend a hand. 

Note: some portions were edited before posting here.