What Is A DAO?

It is a corporation that is run entirely by a set of rules upon which operations are delegated among a variety of computers and network nodes. DAOs can even be run by a Machine Learning agent, that constantly evolves and improves its algorithms and therefore its decisions. The DAO (Decentralised Autonomous Organisation) aims at providing a decentralized business model for organizing both commercial and non-profit enterprises.

“it takes the concept of traditional organizations and decentralizes it”

The idea of a decentralized organization takes the concept of traditional organizations and decentralizes it. So, instead of a hierarchical structure managed by a collective of humans interacting in person and controlling property via the legal system, a decentralized organization involves a set of people interacting with each other according to a protocol specified in code and enforced on the blockchain network.

“a paradigm shift in the very idea of economic organization. ”

In May 2016, TechCrunch described The DAO as “a paradigm shift in the very idea of economic organization. … It offers complete transparency, total shareholder control, unprecedented flexibility, and autonomous governance.”

The New Era Of Business

Governance is the way rules, norms and actions of how people interact with each other are structured, sustained, regulated and held accountable. It regulates the process of decision-making among the actors involved in a collective problem that leads to the creation, reinforcement, or reproduction of social norms and institutions.

The degree of formality depends on the internal rules of a given organization and, externally, with its business partners. As such, governance may take many forms, driven by many different motivations and with many different results.

Effects On Society

They are pretty much here, at the intersection of Crypto, AI, and the Internet of Things. These Decentralized Autonomous Organizations (DAOs) should have a brain of software, the ability to select actions according to preference functions, and some way to instantiate in the world.

“a digital entity may have a strand by which to reach into our world”

The physical world is becoming more digital. Machine vision translates our reality into data that neural networks can recognize, classify and use in order to direct actions.

Similarly, augmented reality layers are being drawn on top of the built environment by the large tech companies. With such mappings, a digital entity may have a strand by which to reach into our world and practice interacting with objects.

Machines And Their Human Role Models

On a fundamental level, with all of this technology it is important to keep humanity at the center of the conversation about work. Being augmented by machines doesn’t mean removing humans from the equation. There is an opportunity to distribute value and ownership, based on worker contributions.

This type of decentralized organization can not only create a distributed network of contributors, but also long-term shared value, whereby individuals are part of the value equation as the future of work shifts and changes.

“they present an opportunity to harness unprecedented levels of creativity”

As DAOs and blockchain technology gain more traction and use cases within larger organizations, they present an opportunity to harness unprecedented levels of creativity, innovation, and collective intelligence in solving some of the world’s biggest problems. Instead of technology being a threat to the future of work, it may open up a brave new decentralized world.

Most scary scenarios for the future of work assume a traditional, hierarchical organizational structure. There is a CEO and a leadership team on the top, then middle management, then a busy workforce doing various tasks. AI and robots slowly automate jobs, replacing people in their individual roles.

The Future

There is a lot of talk about the threat of automation. AI and robots are coming to take our jobs. Corporations and the government are taking control of our lives. This creates a scarcity mindset of “us versus them,” leading us to ask, How am I going to protect myself? Will I be one of the few people left when machines take over?

“unleash new levels of creativity and ingenuity”

Rather than adopting a fearful mindset toward the unavoidable shift in society, people could start looking at advantages of these technological tools:

• What if instead of technology replacing humans, it augmented our abilities to unleash new levels of creativity and ingenuity?

• What if we could collectively make decisions and govern organizations without leaders?

• What if we could solve problems and increase productivity at scales never imagined?

This is the potential power and promise of DAOs — decentralized autonomous organizations.