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Hardcoding Norms in DAOsGeorgy Ishmaev
Distributed Systems (SD/EEMC)Ethics of Technology (VTI/TPM)
Technical University of Delft
[email protected] Blockchain Symposium 30 January 2020
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“Organisation made of software”
• Functioning without any central point of control (Decentralised)
• Not dependent on external regulatory structures (Autonomous)
• Allows indirect coordination between agents (Organization)
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Was not ‘the DAO’ a $50 million
mistake ?
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DAO experimentation is alive and kicking
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Still not sure if a revolution in institutional design
Or another ERC-20 token
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It is not about specific implementations
But about the evolution of idea@AnselLinder
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The Idea of Distributed Coordination Systems
Such organisations can enable new modes of social coordination performed in a mostly:
Decentralised;
Disintermediated;
Distributed manner.
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Relevance to the real world?
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New domains enabled by technology as ‘Terra Nullis’
Regulation by technology
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DAOs are inherently and necessarily behaviour-influencing systems. Which means we need to consider:
DAOs can be more ethically controversial than cryptocurrencies
1.Morally unacceptable actions and consequences for the participants and affected stakeholders;
2.Normative reasons defining purpose for the existence of such organizations; (in the same way as law integrates moral reasons at meta-level);
3.Demarcation between values pertaining to the maintenance of the system and values defined by the purpose of the system.
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‘Techno-regulation’ approach
Reg. Tech
Face recognition
DRM
Smart contracts
We think it can work this way:
Law
Moral norms
‘Rule of Law’
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More often it works this way:
Reg. Tech
Private law
Centralized platform with a
market monopolyLaw
Moral norms‘Legal lag’
And decentralization alone will not save us
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“We are just helping to create an ecosystem”
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DAOs
Moral Reasons
Participants’ values
System norms
Emerging norms
Legal Frameworks
We need to make it work this way:
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• Anonymity - Reputation: Value conflicts between the participants of the system
• Privacy - Data ownership: Crowding out moral values through market mechanisms
• Self-sovereignty - Digital serfdom: Erosion of norms through the formalisation
• No one is responsible - “It is all developers’ fault”: Distributed responsibility
Moral conflicts (and ongoing research)