A Schelling (or Focal) Point is a solution people intend to use in the absence of communication, because it seems natural, special or relevant.



Schelling Points Are Everywhere



It’s a fascinating concept. Before mobile phones and the web, Schelling Points played a key role on how we self-organised locally. Churches, community centers, and bars would all serve as a Schelling Point. In fact, one could argue that culture in itself is a grand game of continuously shifting focal points, where people tend to conform towards the expectations of others. For example, imagine two prisoners held in separate rooms. Each are given the same sequence of numbers, and if they choose the same number, then both are set free. The numbers are: 183630479326, 73672, 100000000, 4782721. Which one will they choose? In order to win, the participants need to assume what the other is thinking. And thus, both would likely choose 100000000.



It’s A Coordination Game



But now comes a more interesting meta question: how can you make parties converge on a mutually consistent decision framework WHILE in the absence of communication? There are many tools in our arsenal that help us solve coordination games.



For a while, I’ve had this vision of creating some design that will allow all networks to mint their own value. It will be organic & automated. We will unlock HUGE amounts of social & other implicit capital: adding a lot of new economic liquidity & agency.