Is True Decentralization Even Possible?
Here at MintDice.com, we are very supportive of a more decentralized future—returning the power of money and identity to the people. But is true decentralization in every aspect even possible?
While we would love more decentralization, we also recognize that there is a line that cannot be crossed. Keep reading to learn more about why we don’t even want true decentralization in its entirety.
What is Decentralization?
Decentralization is the opposite of centralization—which are practices that concentrate power in a single entity. For example, most forms of government are centralized, aka all power is controlled by a handful of people (or even a single person) on behalf of millions or billions of people.
In more simply terms, decentralization is freedom—giving you control over whatever it was which was formerly centralized. Money and identity are two of the main centralized aspects in our world, which we would like to see become decentralized.
Money is centralized because it is controlled by a single governing body, meaning they can print or “delete” funds as they see fit. Identity is the same, as your passport is issued or revoked by a single government. Both of these aspects are dangerous as they leave the people beholden to a single government, often limiting their movement and personal growth.
Is Decentralization Always Good?
In general, decentralization is good as it spreads the power to an individual level, giving people control over their own lives and choices. However, there are a few cases where centralization is needed.
The major one is in environmental protection. We, as a human race, need to protect the environment; otherwise, we won’t have oxygen or food in the future. The problem with decentralizing this space is that, because of game theory, there will be people who abuse the environment for personal gain even when they know it is wrong. Therefore, no matter how much we love and preach decentralization, we recognize that environmental protections and regulations must remain centralized.
This also goes for fundamental human rights. For example, the right for everyone to vote and not to live life as a slave or murder someone as they see fit. Unfortunately, while the majority of humans would never kill another human, some would, and for that reason, we need some centralized entity that ensures they won’t. Of course, there is a more decentralized approach to this, such as a state-wide police force instead of a nationwide one, but this is still quite centralized. Additionally, experiments where individuals were given no oversight have unfortunately led to less than palpable results—meaning we know we need centralization to keep these things in check.
Therefore, though overall decentralization is good, true decentralization will never be possible because, in essence, while most people can be trusted, you can’t trust all people.
Are There Solutions to Make Police and Environmental Law Decentralized?
There are many individuals who theorize solutions to these problems (we are not philosophers, sadly), but in all the years they have been doing so, there is so far not a solution.
On one hand, you would need a self-punishing system—something to ensure those who did wrong would be punished. One solution which had been proposed is a sort of robot that would monitor individuals and automatically imprison them in their house if they did something wrong, but if you think deeper, this won’t work. Why? Well, robots can’t evaluate gray areas. So maybe, you did kill your husband, but only because he came at you with a gun during a psychotic break—a robot won’t be able to make those deductions and could therefore take actions which were unwarranted.
On this same vein, having robots monitoring everyone is still very centralized in nature—even if you have a robot programmed only for you. This is because someone has to decide the “right” and “wrong” inputs, which are programmed into the robot, and then you are right back at centralized government.
So, as you can see, while we don’t like centralization, there is no way to protect the environment or the people from themselves without it. While this might change in the future, there simply isn’t a solution available right now.
What Industries Should Be Decentralized
Though we recognize that tur decentralization isn’t possible, there are so many industries/practices which should become decentralized. They are as follows:
· Money (cryptocurrency instead of government-issued fiat and no more lying about inflation)
· Voting (no more wondering if elections have been rigged)
· Identity (a malicious government can’t prevent you from leaving)
· Healthcare (no government biases, but price cap laws might need to remain)
· Education (stop indoctrination)
· Arts (the government shouldn’t control this anyway)
All of these industries would ultimately benefit from decentralization. Of course, there would need to be some groundwork in place, but humanity would, overall, be better off.
**It’s important to recognize that decentralization doesn’t always mean non-government funded. For example, making hospitals “decentralized” would give power back to doctors and hospitals to make decisions on an individual level, even if the government footed the bill for each patient. Decentralization just has to do with control via laws—which we often associate with money. But remember, money isn’t synonymous with decentralization.
In fact, this is why we think decentralization is such a tough subject to discuss, because people cannot separate control from money. Sadly, we live in a world where money allows you to do what you want, and people think that when they pay for something, they control it. Until humanity, as a whole, can come to terms with paying for something and not controlling its every move, we doubt anything more will be able to become decentralized.
Overall, decentralization is a tough and abstract topic, and though we want to see more, we know the world will never be decentralized. For the time being, we will stick with pushing for more decentralization in the areas that really need it, and hope for a less decentralized future, no matter how it is eventually accomplished.
