“Coordination failures” make it changing for people to address challenges. However, Web3’s economic model can empower the next generation to do better, said Kevin Owocki.
Kevin Owocki is the founder of Gitcoin.co, one of the Ethereum-based networks designed to help advance the growth of open source software. This post is a preview of what he will talk about at the Consensus 22 in Austin, Texas.
The Tragedy of Coordinated Failures
Human society in the 21st century is faced by a myriad of global threats and systemic risks, from climate change to lack of economic prosperity. Although solutions to some of the issues are already available, rarely are they employed because not enough persons, nation states or groups come together in a coordinated manner.
Our legacy institutions are not properly equipped to address the challenges facing the planet today, primarily because their creators targeted their own interests, and countries are focused on their own people. The result is a path that harms the overall system. Owocki refers to them as coordinated failures.
However, we are not in these “coordinated failures forever” because the dawn is near through Web3. It is possible to leverage Web3 to create a crypto-economic system that is regenerative: highly resilient, and sustainable.
Know Your Enemy and Coordinate the Solutions
Owocki quotes the Chinese general Sun Tsu, who said that if you “know thy enemy and know thyself, you need not fear the results of a hundred battles.”
Humanity faces unending global challenges not for lack of good solutions, ideas or data but failure to use a coordinated approach. Most groups act at cross-purpose or even consider others their enemies when the true enemy is the conflict itself.
Conflicts will fix none of the issues, but we already have a solution: the decentralized blockchain networks that allow the creation of designs and products that are borderless.
One way of promoting coordination is bringing forth incentives to support our system. This is why Owocki started developing open-source software about five years ago. “Much of the open-source software that underpins our digital infrastructure was designed by and is maintained by software engineers who are paid little or nothing for their work. This asymmetry between value creation and value capture is why I founded Gitcoin in 2017,” explained Owocki.
Today, Gitcoin has a large community of about 312,000 developers and has already directed USD62.1 million in funding.
Owocki said that they believe Gitcoin is a role model for more funding programs, and can help the society to reach a “regenerative crypto economy,” which will satisfy peoples’ needs and strike a balance between needs and investments.
DAO and Cryptos for Maximum Good
Decentralized autonomous organizations (DAO) are very helpful in creating positive effects for ecosystems around it. They are also scalable and act as the building blocks for the regenerative crypto economic movement.
As cryptos’ popularity continues, more people are asking whether it is indeed good for the planet. Owocki posits that the main benefit of cryptos is not to billionaire investors but in the promise to create structures that nurture new behavior.
Already regenerative crypt economics is helping in building sustainable funding systems for digital-native public goods. Owocki argues that in the coming decades, more economies, democracies and civic organizations are expected to upgrade with the same coordination, allowing more people to thrive.
We have to go beyond the inherited economic and political system to benefit from regenerative crypto economics.
