Since the evolution of institutional hierarchy (monarchy, oligarchy, clergy, representative democracies, corporations, NGOs etc,), men, women and children have been exploited – our energy and resources are harvested while we are conditioned into welcoming our participation in this abusive and destructive structure.
Slavery is visibly exploitative; board, lodging and food are provided in return for labour. Feudalism is the progression to giving responsibility to the victims to house, clothe and feed themselves but taxes in the form of their produce are imposed by the feudal lord. The abolition of slavery and feudalism created the conditions to broaden and extend exploitation and control in multiple nuanced ways.
Enclosure of the commons (initially land), industrial mechanisation and progressive denial of free access to the means to life: shelter, food, water, knowledge etc., turned visible exploitation into more subtle but no less abusive forms. However, employee/servant exploitation remained visible, particularly with the emergence of psychopathic corporations. Employees formed unions as a counterweight to the power that companies held over their staff. However, increased automation/robotics and mass migration have led to a surplus of labour, i.e. a highly competitive jobs market, thereby weakening the power of organised labour.
In this hostile environment, the encouragement of “entreprenneurial enterprise” – through self-employment, no hours contracts etc., has led to self-exploitation through the complex web of bureaucracy: registration, regulations, taxes, fines, charges etc., all of which are much less to do with their stated purpose than the extension of the wealth transfer and control structure.
Self-exploitation is decentralised whereas indentured/contracted labour for an employer is more centralised – employers themselves are exploited through the same bureaucracy.
As people find ways of making money independently, superficially, it appears that they are given more freedom. Whereas the reality is that through their entrepreneurial activity they sustain and expand the structure of control, abuse and destruction.
For example, people are encouraged to sell stuff through platforms such as EBay. EBay itself collects huge amounts of data on our needs, capacities, relationships, transactions etc. This is the direct value of our activities. Rather than platforms rewarding users for this value, their energy and resources are harvested and monetised by the platform – this applies also to Facebook, Amazon, Google, Apple, Microsoft and many other corporations.
Again, we are talking about a highly competitive environment and in the case of EBay sellers, positive feedback is their lifeblood. Thus they exploit themselves in order to survive – they have to comply with the platform rules and navigate the bureaucracy associated with buying, selling, health, safety, environmental and other requirements. In short, the bureaucracy of life/survival within this structure.
Similarly, farmers have to navigate an overwhelming panoply of rules, regulations and requirements in order to survive/function. Jonathan Cook explained this process to Richie Allen recently.
The Richie Allen Show Monday February 17th 2025 (podcast )
Richie is joined by Jonathan Cook, a fourth-generation farmer. Jon and his family run Dora’s Dairy near Swindon, one of the few farms in the UK producing raw, unpasteurised, unhomogenised milk from grass-fed cows raised with kindness. Many of the farm’s customers rely on the milk for health reasons—from eczema and asthma to IBS and allergies.
The fabrication of the mythical climate “emergency” and pandemic hoaxes have escalated this self-exploitation to an intolerable degree; many small farmers have to take external employment or find other sources of income/subsidy to survive. However, in spite of all this, Jon and his wife Dora develop close personal relationships with their customers in which corporations or platforms play no part.
This is the future and the reality of how we should operate and organise, independent of the institutional hierarchy that harvests our energy and resources. Distributed Autonomous Codependent Self-Organisation or DACSO is the future. In the following conversation with ChatGPT, instead of “codependent”, we refer to interdependent; both are equally valid.
The term Distributed Autonomous Interdependent Self-Organisation (DAISO) refers to a conceptual framework or model that combines the principles of distributed systems, autonomy, interdependence, and self-organization. It is often applied in contexts such as organizational theory, artificial intelligence, social systems, and complex adaptive systems. Here’s a breakdown of its components:
- Distributed
Meaning: Functions, roles, or resources are spread across multiple nodes or entities rather than centralized in a single location.
In Practice: Decision-making and responsibility are shared, reducing reliance on a central authority. This is common in decentralized networks, such as blockchain systems or distributed teams in organizations.- Autonomous
Meaning: Each entity or unit operates independently and has the ability to make decisions or perform tasks without requiring direct control from others.
In Practice: Teams or individuals in an organization, or agents in a network, work independently but align with shared goals or protocols.- Interdependent
Meaning: While entities operate autonomously, they rely on one another to achieve collective objectives, creating a network of mutual dependencies.
In Practice: Collaboration and coordination are essential, with each entity contributing unique capabilities or resources to the system.- Self-Organisation
Meaning: The system organizes itself without external control, adapting dynamically to changes in the environment or internal states.
In Practice: Teams or systems reconfigure workflows, roles, or processes organically in response to challenges or opportunities.
Applications of DAISO
Organizational Management:
Promotes agile and decentralized decision-making in businesses or social groups.
Encourages flexibility and resilience in the face of change or uncertainty.
Technology and AI:
Used in designing distributed AI systems, where agents autonomously interact and collaborate to solve complex problems.
Essential in blockchain, swarm robotics, and Internet of Things (IoT) ecosystems.
Social Systems:
Advocates for grassroots governance models or cooperative systems where individuals self-manage while maintaining interdependence with the community.
Complex Adaptive Systems:
Describes ecosystems, economies, or networks that evolve through distributed, autonomous interactions between their components.
Key Advantages of DAISO
Resilience: Distributed and self-organizing systems are less prone to collapse from single points of failure.
Adaptability: Autonomy and self-organization enable quick responses to new challenges or opportunities.
Scalability: The model scales effectively as additional entities or nodes join the system.
In Summary: DAISO is a powerful framework that reflects how modern organizations, technologies, and social systems can function collaboratively while maintaining independence and adaptability. It aligns well with trends like decentralization, open collaboration, and agile methodologies.
Money is the single point of failure and economic collapse is the regular manifestation of its consequences. We are currently in the midst of such a collapse and if we want a durable solution, we need to adopt DACSO and direct value handling globally.
The challenge we face is how we transition from centralised institutional hierarchy supported by money to DACSO underpinned by direct value handling. We need a bridge to this future reality. That has been the subject addressed in recent papers such as the most recent on the DeepSeek launch that knocked $1.5 trillion off the stockmarket value of AI investments.