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Primavera de Filippi, a legal scholar and researcher, discusses the governance of blockchain technologies and the challenges they pose. She explains the concept of governance by design, which involves embedding governance structures into technological architectures. Primavera also introduces one of her past projects, Plantoids, blockchain-based life forms that replicate and reproduce autonomously. 

She highlights the legal questions surrounding these entities and the need for recognition and regulation. Primavera explores the potential of CoordiNations, networks of collectives that mutualize resources and engage in collective action. She emphasizes the importance of fostering cooperation and tackling global problems through decentralized governance.

"A CoordiNation is not a community, a CoordiNation if anything is a community of communities. It's a network of collectives...And so everyone becomes more incentivized to contribute to the whole because they are all intertwined with one another."

In this episode:

- Collaborative economies

- Governance by design

- Plantoids

- Legal recognition and regulation of DAOs

- CoordiNations





The Blockchain and the Law by Primavera de Filippi 

Plantoids 

DAO Model Law 

Coordination 

Primavera's CNRS research page

Bergman Klein Center at Harvard

COALA (Coalition of Automated Legal Applications)


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In this episode, TokenBrice discusses the challenges and shortcomings of DAO governance. He emphasizes the concept of governance minimization, where automation and incentivization are preferred over relying on governance which can be twisted to serve individual or external needs for profit.

He talks about shortcomings of plutocratic DAOs but also shares his experience as a member of the GHO Liquidity Committee, raising concerns about the selection process for committee members or delegates - and the prevalence of conflicts of interest in DeFi DAO governance landscape with the rise of DAO politicians that aren’t much different to real world politicians.

On the bright side, he talks about transparency & the ability to track funds as significant improvements to governance in the real world - but stands firmly behind the idea of governance minimization. The episode concludes with the introductions of the DeFi Collective, a nonprofit association supporting growth and resilience of DeFi protocols.

Takeaways


Governance minimization & automation


Pitfalls & conflicts of interests in plutocracy & committees


Professionalization of governance


Conflicts of interest


DAOs bleeding money


Transparency and tracking of funds


The DeFi Collective helping DeFi protocols for free



The DeFi Collective

TokeBrice Website

TokenBrice Twitter

Leaving GHO Committee blog post

Aave Runway dashboard




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In this episode, we're excited to welcome Sero, a key player in MetaGame, whose unique journey from a high school dropout to a tech and Web3 enthusiast offers a fresh perspective on self-learning, autonomy and the future of decentralized systems.

Sero’s story is not just about overcoming traditional educational hurdles but also about finding his path in the dynamic and often challenging world of freelancing & Web3. His experience with various programming languages, his approach to learning, and his transition into MetaGame showcase a blend of determination, skill, and adaptability.



- Sero’s unconventional educational journey and career experiences.

- How the Odin project and COVID-19 led to a breakthrough in learning

- Entry into the world of crypto through a DeFi project

- Sero’s rank in MetaGame and his perspective on its working environment

- Importance of a product mindset versus an open-source approach

- MetaGame's culture, meritocracy, and financial sustainability

- The role of autonomy & mentorship in personal & professional development



"I always like to learn by myself and kind of be my own leader. It's about not wanting to waste my life... if I want to do something, I try at least. It's a habit that you have to build."



We uncovered layers behind a self-taught tech enthusiast's journey. Sero’s story is a testament to the power of self-motivation, the importance of adapting to changing learning environments, and the potential impact of mentorship. Sero’s insights into MetaGame and the broader tech landscape provide valuable lessons for anyone navigating this dynamic space.



Resources:

The Odin Project

Sero on Twitter

Decentra Talks Podcast

Serotonin Designs Blog


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In this episode, we dive in with Trent Van Epps, a non-technical core contributor to Ethereum and the founder of Protocol Guild. Trent shares his journey from studying to be an architect to working at the Ethereum Foundation & founding the Protocol Guild.

Currently serving on the Protocol Support team, overseeing network upgrades & maintenance; Trent highlights the need for non-technical people to make it all gel. He also outlines the decentralized governance & compensation mechanics of the Protocol Guild as well as the criticism he’s faced about it.

"Time weighting is one of the most important aspects because we're able to sidestep a lot of the... things that members are responsible for managing."

Overall, peth & Trent cover everything from the original Mist demo back in 2016 that got them both excited about Ethereum, all the way to the time-weighted compensation inside the Protocol Guild, contributor retention, decentralized protocol development funding, public goods, their favourite applications of Ethereum & their long term hopes for it.

"I think there's still something to build, there's still a lot of work to do to shape this blockchain substrate that we're all constructing together."



Key Topics:


Mist Demo 2016


Architecture to Blockchain Transition


Protocol Guild Initiative


Decentralized Applications & Usecases


Evolving Blockchain Design


Protocol Guild Origins


Funding Model



Resources:


Mist Demo
Ethereum Foundation
Protocol Guild Documentation
EAS (Ethereum Attestation Service)
Protocol Guild Website
Trent Van Epps on Twitter
Optimism Research Forum
SourceCred


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Hugi is an Icelandic entrepreneur & technologist involved in participatory political movements & decentralized organizations for over 15 years. He was a founding member of the Swedish Pirate Party, he helped build the participatory festival Borderland & currently works on open source platforms like Open Collective & Cobudget, empowering collaborative communities.

Hugi shares his early experience co-founding the Swedish Pirate Party, one of the first political movements organised as an online swarm. After that, he got involved with the Borderland festival. He saw it as an experimental sandbox for new coordination methods in decentralized decision-making.

Besides putting on the most decentralized festival for thousands of people, people of Borderland also built tools for doing so, one of which became Cobudget - an online tool for decentralized budgeting.

He hopes for more cross-pollination between DAOs & civil society organizations. DAOs can learn governance models from 100-years of experience. On the other hand, DAOs need to start interacting with & prove real-world impact before being taken seriously by the 99%. He suggests people build web3 solutions for civil society needs, as a bridge between the spaces.

“I realized that in a lot of these communities that are running open source software or DAOs, there's not a single person that has any experience from regular civil society organizations, because if they did, they would already have the blueprints in their heads of how this can look, because the blueprints are already there."  - Hugi

Key Topics:


Origins of the Swedish Pirate Party & swarm organizing


Borderland festival as a decentralized sandbox


Self-organization and emergent leadership


Advice process for decentralized decision-making


Participatory budgeting with Cobudget


Learning from historic worker cooperatives


Real-world impact and adoption challenges


Bridging web3 and mainstream communities


Technocratic elitism in web3 spaces


Hybridizing DAOs and traditional nonprofits



Resources:

- Hugi Asgeirsson

- Borderland

- Cobudget

- Open Collective

- Swedish Pirate Party


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This time we got Stephen Reid - a teacher, technologist and coach who is involved in a variety of projects related to web3, metacrisis, metamodernism, psychedelics & personal development. He has taught numerous courses including Tools for the Regenerative Renaissance, DAOs, Web3, and AI. Currently he is studying for a certificate in machine learning and artificial intelligence from UC Berkeley.

Steven starts by describing his background and interests. He first became interested in metamodernism and the metacrisis around 2016-2017 by listening to thinkers like Daniel Schmachtenberger and Jordan Hall. He sees himself as a bridge builder between different communities like web3 and psychedelics that have more in common philosophically than people realize.

Peth & Stephen discuss the concepts of metamodernism and the metacrisis. The metacrisis examines the common drivers behind global crises like climate change, inequality, and more. It's about systems thinking and understanding how everything is interconnected. Metamodernism focuses more on inner development of individuals with the idea that if more people are self-actualized, it will be easier to address systemic issues.

Stephen shares his insights and experiences, exploring the interconnectedness of global challenges and how understanding underlying generator functions can pave the way to solving multiple crises simultaneously.

Some key ideas covered:

- The multipolar trap - how even good people can be driven to bad things when coordination systems fail. For example, countries not wanting to be the first to decarbonize their economy out of fear they'll fall behind competitively.

- The importance of both inner development and compassion as well as designing better external coordination mechanisms. You need both personal growth and systemic solutions.- Concepts from integral theory & the book Reinventing Organizations - which distribute ownership and decision-making rather than having rigid hierarchies.

- Practices like authentic relating that help groups attune to collective intelligence and make decisions together.

They discuss the challenges of governance in DAOs. Having tokens be fully transferrable often leads to plutocracy, but more experiments are happening with reputation-based voting and other models. The goal is distributing power but avoiding the issues of both "one person one vote" and pure token-based control.

He emphasizes the need for people in the web3 space to focus on how their work really contributes to human thriving, especially with the urgency of interconnected crises. Overall it was a wide-ranging conversation about systemic issues and personal growth.

Metacrisis thinking is joined-up thinking, holistic, and systems thinking. It's about understanding the interventions in any domain and how they can affect other domains. We should create a culture where everyone is aware of the possibility of downstream consequences and takes responsibility for understanding and mitigating them - Steven Reed

Key Topics:

- Systems thinking and the meta-crisis

- Coordination problems like multipolar traps

- Inner development, compassion, and practices

- Distributed ownership models for organizations

- Projects related to the meta-crisis



Resources:

- Metacrisis XYZ

- Reforge the Ring

- Futurecraft residencies

- Metamoderna

- Reinventing Organizations book




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