Re:“In 2018 the blockchain/decentralization story fell apart”
by rdiddly on Tuesday January 01, 2019 @06:49PM
(#18803179)
A subtlety bears mentioning: History favors both centralized and distributed power, at different times, in different places, in quasi-cyclical fashion. Examples of history thwarting centralization include the collapses of: the Roman Empire, the USA in the 1860s, the 3rd Reich, Yugoslavia, the whole Warsaw Pact, and the USSR. Some of these were later "re-centralized" and some weren't. When things get too decentralized, centralization kicks in. When things get too centralized, decentralization kicks in. It's a balance.
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Re:“In 2018 the blockchain/decentralization story fell apart”
by AndrewKemendo on Tuesday January 01, 2019 @07:11PM
(#18803255)
I read the fourth turning some years ago and it repeats effectively the same argument. Previously the histories from Polybius.
From my study of it, it's closer to a ratchet. So while dissolution might happen at the highest organizational level, the hierarchies trend toward growing over successive cycles.
Re:“In 2018 the blockchain/decentralization story fell apart”
by majewsky on Tuesday January 01, 2019 @07:44PM
(#18803385)
Also, the number of sovereign nations is just one measure of centralization of power. Economic structures are now more centralized than ever (with, in many cases, a handful multinational megacorps controlling most of each sector).