Arthur Brock is a digital nomad. As a founder of several internet-based companies, he sets up office wherever he travels or is needed. This nomadic lifestyle has helped Arthur understand how connected our world has become and propelled him to re-envision the future of the internet.

“My gift is in the domain of being able to see and understand complex systems and find the leverage points to change them.” -Arthur Brock

Arthur explains that the complex systems he refers to, encompass communities, businesses, networks, economies, and hopefully the planetary ecosystem. He sees on big leverage point as “Current-Sees” — the symbol systems that we create for shaping, enabling and measuring flows.

“You could say I’m a “Current-See” hacker.” -Arthur Brock

Recently, Arthur founded an initiative called Holochain, which is a scalable blockchain alternative enabling peer-to-peer applications. Unlike most blockchain projects that remain fairly inaccessible to mainstream users, applications built on Holochain can also use the Holo hosting framework to service normal people the same way they access web sites.

“Just as AirBnB sells more bed-nights than the largest hotel chains but has never built a hotel; Holo aims to compete with the largest cloud hosting companies, without ever building a data centre.” -Arthur Brock

Arthur hopes the success of Holo and Holochain will provide the necessary protocols for the next generation of fully distributed web applications. Imagine using Facebook, Twitter, or Uber without needing a company in the middle to run the technology infrastructure.

“I’m determined to steer usage away from unsustainable blockchain architectures, drastically transform the integrity of the crypto space, and create the stepping stones to the next economy.” -Arthur Brock

Although this isn’t the first disruptive and change-making project that Arthur has helmed, Holochain is gaining much more attention than he is used to.

“I’ve stepped into the spotlight quite a bit more than I normally prefer and am running a large team scattered across the world. I’m still grappling with this mini-celebrity status that seems to be growing, as well as its accompanied communications load.” -Arthur Brock

He says one of his main challenges at the moment is figuring out how to nourish a healthy work culture for his fast-growing and scattered team, without access to the “social” spaces that are available when everyone shares an office building.

“The tactics I’ve mastered in the past need more in-person connection time than we currently get. I underestimated the effects of leaky membranes and time-zone differences and I’m having to re-invent my approach to building healthy teams and companies.” -Arthur Brock

While most of his attention is dedicated to growing Holo and Holochain, Arthur is also developing several other projects. One, called Ceptr, is a complete rewrite of computing and communications based on the patterns of natural systems, another is the MetaCurrency Project that enables a quantum leap in collective and coordinative intelligence via fluency in currencies as living maps of the flows we need to manage to live on this planet together.

“This knowledge enables the re-shaping of social and economic systems into new and healthier patterns.” -Arthur Brock

In the past, Arthur harnessed MetaCurrency principles to create Agile Learning Centers.

“Agile Learning Centers provide an alternative education model empowering students to design their own education and run their schools using Agile methods for self-organizing.” -Arthur Brock

Released as an “open source” starter kit, the network of schools has been doubling every year since the 2012 pilot. There are currently 64 schools and startups.

Arthur also helped build Emerging Leader Labs, a social-enterprise incubator operated in a gift economy which focused on the human alchemy required to translate inspiring visions into impactful organizations.

In 2018, Arthur’s travels brought him to New Zealand where he grew to admire the country’s attitude toward progress.

“New Zealand seems aware of impending change and readier than most places to activate, integrate and empower some of these new kinds of patterns.” -Arthur Brock

Arthur is looking forward to partnering with members of the Edmund Hillary Fellowship to bring that change into reality.

“I want to plant the seeds of new commons, new economic power (information age / post-monetary), new capacities for self-organizing on-line and off-line in the most fertile setting for the success of these projects.” -Arthur Brock

Are you a visionary entrepreneur, investor, or changemaker building solutions to global challenges? You can bring your vision to reality from New Zealand by joining the Edmund Hillary Fellowship. Apply here.