Why It’s Taken Us 2500 Years To End Centralization

Decentralizing Marketplaces with district0x

In recent weeks we have been amazed by the outpouring of support we have received from our community. Today we would like to share the first of a two part article and video series that Dragoş Ștefănescu took the time to put together to help explain why we are building district0x and the potential changes we see it bringing about. A huge thank you to Dragos for his efforts!

Ever since the dawn of civilization, governance within societies has been a central theme. It’s safe to say that for most of our history, we have ruled through violence and oppression. Whoever was fit to lead was the head of the pack and everyone else followed.

However, in the 6th Century BC, Cleisthenes established a new way of governance. All eligible people from Athens were allowed to speak and vote on public matters, and thus set the laws of the city state. And so democracy was born. A system in which people came together to make decisions on administrative aspects that would influence their collective lifestyle and their future.

Democracy actually stems from the terms demos which means people and kratos which means force or power. In ancient Athens, the power belonged to the people. In theory, it sounded amazing. But then you realize it wasn’t quite that way…

In order to be eligible to vote you had to:

Be male

Be an adult

Be a citizen (not a foreign resident or a slave)

When you put together the numbers, only 30,000 or so people could vote out of a population of 300,000. In a sense, the power was held by a minority who was deemed fit to govern through arbitrary measures. A minority that doesn’t have the same interests as the entire population.

So what does this have to do with district0x and cryptocurrencies?

Fast forward 2,500 years and not much has changed. Even though we have progressed tremendously from a technological standpoint, most aspects are largely the same.

Sure, we no longer have to gather in the same place to vote. We no longer have inequality or discrimination when it comes to elections. And we finally have control to choose the ones who govern us.

However, with the rise of globalisation, the past 50 years have completely shifted the game. Countries are not the most powerful players since corporations have become much larger than most governments. And the people that run these corporations have significantly different interests than the end users of their services.

Think about it for a second …

How many phone companies can you realistically turn to and use their phone network within your geography?

How many social media platforms can you access where you can communicate and engage with all your friends?

And how many job or freelancer websites are there where you can find relevant work opportunities?

That’s right. Not that many. They all run their services on their terms, they all have access to your data and ultimately they seek to make profit from the activity you have on their platforms.

As Vinay Gupta put it in his speech at ICT Spring 2015: “we all feel there is something wrong with our relationship with these companies, because they seem to be farming us”.

Not suggesting they’re mischievous in any way or that there’s a grand plan behind their actions. Simply put, if Facebook wanted to change something in their terms of service or they wanted to serve you more Ads and you didn’t agree to it, your only option would be to quit their network whilst stopping communication with a lot of your friends at the same time.

Despite globalization and the democratisation of technology, we are still governed by a minority of founders and shareholders that control the ecosystems we spend most of our time in. Just like an entire city was governed by a minority 2,500 years ago in ancient Greece…

There has been a glimmer of hope in the past 5 years due to the “sharing economy”. Startups such as Uber and AirBnb have revolutionized and disrupted their respective industries by focusing on the power of user networks. They do not own assets and simply facilitate the exchange of services between the providers and the end users.

However, decisions are still made from a central hub by the company’s leadership and shareholders. Users still pay fees for the service due to the rent-seeking nature of these companies. And ultimately those users have no decision making power and even have their data sold to 3rd parties they are not even aware about.

No matter how you slice it, you still end up at the same point: centralized governance. It’s been a main feature of humanity throughout history. And rather than acting at a local or regional scale, the Internet has allowed it to turn global.

So are we all doomed to face a future of inequality and centralised decision making?

Well, not really. This is where the emergence of blockchain technology kicks in. It’s the antidote we’ve been looking for. Are you ready for some abstract and ambiguous terminology that only people who have been around blockchain technology for a few years understand?

Just kidding. The point of this article is to make explanations as simple as possible.

You’ve probably heard of Ethereum. It’s one of the keys to decentralization. Ethereum is a set of smart contracts that are digitally stored in the blockchain. Because they are stored in the blockchain, they are part of the public domain — anyone can view and choose to follow them.

To put it simply, just as Bitcoin takes paper currency and transforms it into digital currency, so does Ethereum take any kind of paper contract and makes it digital.

In essence, Ethereum allows all the companies and other players in the world access a global resource of smart contracts in order to do business effortlessly, without the added costs of synchronizing all the various internal systems that might be in use.

The blockchain is fair and equitable. It is secure and gives the same results to everyone who is involved. The information is public and accessible by anyone. If the smart contract is clear enough, it will have real control over any assets involved between 2 parties and thus will eliminate unnecessary middle-men.

For example, if you wanted to buy a house, you could search through the blockchain, discover that it had been sold twice before and see the price listings. Any kind of deceit or suspicion of being tricked would be eliminated.

100% agreement. 100% transparency. 100% security.

Unlike the ancient Greek times where an arbitrary minority was dictating how everyone would live …

Unlike the modern age where industry and governments would operate in the shadows with very little accountability…

And unlike the Internet age where large corporations have control over most of our online communities.

That’s why we created district0x.

By using Ethereum’s potential and combining it with platforms such as Aragon or IPFS, we truly believe that we can shift the existing landscape and build decentralized communities.

Communities that are run by the people, for the people.

Communities that are governed through a perfected democratic system, a modern and scientific approach to democracy fit for the times we live in.

Communities where the ownership and the end users are the same and therefore have the same interests at heart.

We believe that Ethereum and Blockchain technology represent the future. It’s a unique opportunity that has been presented to us due to the latest advancements in technology. And it’s our first chance to have a swing at a true democracy, where the power quite literally sits with the people.

Imagine if you could build a completely decentralized freelance job site, where employers and freelancers come together and barely pay any fees for the service…

Imagine if could have a decetralised marketplace for the exchange of names registered via the Ethereum Name Service, basically allowing you to address resources both on and off the blockchain using simple, human-readable names…

Or imagine if you could use Reddit-style applications, where users are financially rewarded for the creation and posting of relevant content to every other user …

All of these scenarios have suddenly stopped being pipe dreams. They are now within our reach because of these amazing advancements in blockchain technology.

Of course, by now you might have a lot of questions that pop up.

How does this system ensure fair and equal contribution by all the members involved? How does it function and why don’t traditional corporations or start-ups implement it as well? And what’s the potential of blockchain technology down the line?

That, my friend, is enough to think about until our next article.

Stay tuned :-)

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