Throughout our cultural evolution, refinements in the ways we share information have enabled societal shifts. Generally, new mediums which increase individual agency are correlated with expanding collective knowledge. Agency is, in large part, a function of information — the world is complex, and we are limited in our ability to understand it. Tools that enable us to think together enable us to outsource intellectual and productive exploration to the collective and individually benefit from consuming the result.

As we look out into the future, many of the key problems we must solve this century arise from coordination failures at multiple scales of our existing institutional systems. Climate change, existential risk from technology, energy and materials each share something in common — they are examples of multipolar traps arising when individuals and groups pursue their own selfish incentives at the expense of the collective benefit, in games that are increasingly global in their domain of action.

If the history of human endeavour has taught us anything, it’s that the human spirit is moved by what we might create, not what we must avoid.

DAOs are collaborative networks which are likely to have a unique role in the future. To determine this role, you need to be able to look beyond what is happening today. Like a toddler taking its first steps, the DAOs of today are immature, unsteady and likely to stumble.