Are We Ready for Companies That Run Themselves

Get ready for companies that run themselves. But will the autonomous economy set us all free, or just make the rich richer?

Introduction to the concept of Decentralized Autonomous Organizations (DAOs) and Distributed Autonomous Corporations (DACs) through Ethereum and blockchain technologies.

“Open-source principles are a major point of distinction between DACs and the existing, overwhelmingly proprietary systems used for logistics, management and trading. Recall our hypothetical bike-share DAC, a body of business logic in the form of code. Not only would it be entirely open to analysis by the public and investors, but it could be transplanted to a new city at nearly zero cost. What was deemed effective in one system could be copied instantly in others. This democratic proliferation of automated management systems would massively accelerate the journey towards Rifkin’s Collaborative Commons.”

“Who will own the DACs, who will profit from them – and whether ownership or profits are even the right terms – are still open questions. Larimer, from his tone to his pitch, seems relentlessly fixated on the idea that the funders of DACs will reap profits. The investment-like structure of DACs, funded by cryptocurrency, means that those who establish them, back them early and host them will benefit when their associated cryptocurrencies rise in value. Such enviable roles are reserved largely for the technically savvy, resource-rich, and well-educated: in other words, the already privileged.”"

“On the other hand, the open nature of DACs might allow those who were excluded from traditional entrepreneurial channels to gather capital support for their ideas. Imagine startups in developing countries, frictionlessly funded by international backers in roles somewhere between investors and philanthropists. Whatever ominous developments the new technology portends for the managerial classes, it is still possible to imagine DACs contributing to the larger cause of global justice. After all, if they don’t care about borders, who is to say they won’t work to flatten the huge inequalities between nations?”

Notes