A system is decentralized when it doesn’t have central components through which information flows, thereby avoiding concentrations of control and power. It is nevertheless only a means, not an ends in itself.
E.F. Schumacher (1973) considered decentralization allied with freedom and one of “the truths revealed by nature’s living processes” (see biomimetics).
Extreme decentralization is sometimes referred to as fully distributed, hence DAO (decentralized organizing) and distributed ledger, although the terms are also used interchangeably.
LINKS
- Schneider, N. (2019). Decentralization: an incomplete ambition. Journal of Cultural Economy, 12(4), 265-285.
- Internet Society (2019). Consolidation in the Internet Economy
- Nottingham, M. (2022). Centralization and Internet Standards, draft ver 01
- Rossi, E., & Sørensen, C. (2019). Towards a theory of digital network de/centralization: platform-infrastructure lessons drawn from blockchain.
- Zhexi Zhang, G. (2018). Systems Seduction: The Aesthetics of Decentralisation. Journal of Design and Science.
- Buterin, V. (2017). The Meaning of Decentralization.
- Sheldrake, P. (2016). Decentralization — a deep cause of causes you care about deeply. Written for The World Wide Web Foundation.