Hi all,
I looked around but I could not find a document on ethos for GOSH. Is there such a doc where we codify ethos? We (at Sensorica) are starting to codify/formalize the ethos, to make the open network less dependent on founders. It’s an effort to desincarnate the values that are injected and guarded by founders, to keep the venture aligned with its stated vision and mission.
We see ethos as the foundation on which governance is built, a framework that constrains rules making and decision making. As we’re slowly but surely moving to blockchain infrastructures to create our digital working environments, we are starting to automate some of the governance through smart contracts. How much of the governance will be on chain (embedded) and how much of it will be left to off chain politics? Game theory and economic considerations will be in tension with ethical considerations. For example, some people will advocate for generating individual wealth, others for maximizing public good. A solid ethos foundation is the key to avoid spending too much energy fighting over conflictual natural tendencies. Ultimately, formalized ethos should become machine readable to interact with smart contracts. It should form the boundaries of embedded governance. Further in the future, codified or formal ethos should also guide AI, if used for adaptive governance, i.e AI-driven rules making.
You might think that we’re not there yet, but the day of smart contracts approaches fast. In anticipation, we’re moving in that direction by codifying our ethos at least to make it more clear for humans, and we are linking it directly to our governance. Every rule that we make should refer to primitives of the ethos.
That’s what we’re starting. If someone here is interested, we can collaborate. We can open a bridge between Sensorica and GOSH and use our two realities to explore, analyze and design an ethos formal foundation.
Please manifest your interest here and I’d be happy to collaborate.
On our side, this initiative is lead by someone who just submitted his master’s thesis on the ethos of commons-based peer production. This exercise is for him a bridge to a PhD pushing this topic further. I hope you see this as an interesting opportunity to catch.
Thanks for your attention.