How Do You Spell DAO, Mochi?
By: N_Ll
Tags: Cryptoeconomics, Blockchain, Dao, Organization, Crypto

“My dear Mochi,” said QwwQ, “everybody knows it’s spelled with a ‘T’.”

“(QwwQ) < I was meditating on the whole DAO thing you mentioned in the last post. You know when someone points something out to you and you start see it everywhere? Seems like there’s a new DAO popping up every day.

(n_ll) < Mhm. But we should be clear about what these things are though. They shouldn’t be called DAOs — not in any meaningful sense of the term, at least.

(QwwQ) < So…What should we call them then?

(n_ll) < Well, sometimes I think you should just call a spade a spade. These DAOs are really just crowdfunds without recourse.

(QwwQ) < But I read somewhere on the internet that DAOs will do for organizations what the Model T did for cars. Is that not true?

(n_ll) < I mean, if we’re only talking about these funding mechanisms in isolation, then no. How can you compare sending money around an organization to an entire vehicle? It’s like saying cars are made entirely of gasoline.

(QwwQ) < But it’s not just funding, n_ll. There are decentralized governance systems built int…

(n_ll) < Governance systems? You mean a budgeting process?

(QwwQ) < Yeah, b-but…DAOs efficiently organize people around a cause. That’s what they’re doing isn’t it? It seems to me like legitimate projects are being successfully funded.

(n_ll) < Yeah, but so what if projects are being funded? Take away all the crypto-economic mumbo jumbo, put a bunch of cash money in a pot, and give it a cause. How is that different from a budgeting process at a for-profit company?

(QwwQ) < It’s decentralized.

(n_ll) < Who cares if it’s decentralized if people aren’t being productive with the money? So we’ve moved from a carburetor to a rudimentary fuel injection system. That’s still not a Model T. That’s not even an engine!

Look, if you want to do something different, you have to look at the entire system — not just one part of it — and change how it works. You don’t sit in front of your computer and go re-inventing the wheel. You go outside, you take a deep breath of hot polluted air, and I don’t know — maybe you decide you’re going to build a battery factory.

(QwwQ) < That sounds, like, super inspiring and all, but do you realize that you’ve spent this entire time knocking on a bunch of other people’s ideas without putting forward any of your own?

(n_ll) < You’re not wrong, I guess.

(QwwQ) < I’m right, you mean. Man, your negativity is really starting to wear on me. If you don’t believe in the current conception of the DAO, why don’t you tell the world what you think a real DAO of the future looks like?

(n_ll) < Well, to begin answering that, how about we examine the term together, beginning with the end? Riddle me this: what’s an organization made out of?

(QwwQ) < Easy. Money!

(n_ll) < 🙅 Wrong. Try again.

(QwwQ) < What? What do you mean wrong?

(n_ll) < Wrong means wrong. Money doesn’t make the wheels turn.

(QwwQ) < What does then?

(n_ll) < People do.

(QwwQ) < Well, obviously. That was going to be my next answer.

(n_ll) < Right. Moving on to autonomy. What is tightly controlled inside of an organization that wants to be set free?

(QwwQ) < Oh oh, I know this one! This one is definitely money.

(n_ll) < 🤦‍♀️…. No, QwwQ. Money is not the answer to all your organizational problems. Try again.

(QwwQ) < Ugh, fine. Is it people?

(n_ll) < 💥. Score another one for the dark side.

(QwwQ) < Ahem. Aren’t we forgetting something?

(n_ll) < ???

(QwwQ) < Never mind. What’s the last one? Decentralized?

(n_ll) < Yep. What needs to be decentralized in an organization?

(QwwQ) < Let me guess. We need to decentralize people.

(‘n.ll’) < W-what? No! Decentralized PEOPLE? What a horrific thought! What kind of sick workplace psycho are you?

(‘QwwQ’) < What? No, I’m not…I was just following…

(n_ll) < Hah! Got you! I was just playing around. You’re right. We need to decentralize people, 100%. First, the head. Next, the torso, and then the arms and legs. Drawn and quartered. The whole lot. Picture big wooden panels. Ropes around ankles and wrists. Four sturdy horses galloping full speed in opposite directions. Medieval technology is pretty wicked, don’t you think?

(‘QwwQ) < I don’t think I under…

(n_ll) < I mean, there’s got to be someone out there who’s with me on this, right? Founders, chairmen, spiritual gurus, cult leaders, the president — what do these “leaders” do all day anyways but sit around and deliver orders from above, when any relevant information to make a decision always gets to them last? The same goes for the little minions in the middle that manage to cozy up to them first. You know what I mean?

(‘QwwQ) < So what are you saying? That we should get information to these leaders faster?

(n_ll) < No, QwwQ. What I’m saying goes much further than that. What I’m saying is we need to kill the pres…

(‘QwwQ) < WHOA DUDE. Slow down. Be careful what you say. Once it’s on the internet, it’s there to stay. You never know who’ll read this down the road and use it agai…

(n_ll) < …sent misconception that DAOs are just about moving money around, and that leadership in an organization is about any one person. Instead, we need to think about how to get people moving in the same direction without orders having to come from the head.

(‘-ww-) < Cheezus almighty.

(n_ll) < What? What did you think I was going to say?

(QwwQ) < Nothing. Forget it.

(n_ll) < …

(QwwQ) < So what’s all this got to do with a battery factory anyways?

(n_ll) < That, my friend, I’ll save…

(QwwQ) < Yeah, we got it.

Stupid rainbow mochi… Thinks (s)he knows ev…

(n_ll) < What was that?

(‘QwwQ) < Nothing. See you in a couple weeks!