At last count there are 7.125 billion people currently rubbing shoulders on planet earth.

How do 7 billion men, women and children organize themselves? As the world becomes more globalised and more interconnected, do we increasingly resemble an ant colony, acting on the basis of instruction from our queen bee? Or is it possible we are becoming more leaderless, acting horizontally by harnessing the power of the crowd?

It is in this context, according to Vahagn Poghoysan, that decentralisation is a choice that is being considered more and more in all domains of life.

To discuss this and more, Vahagn Poghoysan dropped by late last month for our latest Kolba Café. Founder of Instigate, an e-system design organisation, Vahagn is also involved in several other endeavours, from boosting IT capacities in schools and universities around Armenia to creating start-ups in Silicon Valley.

One of the innovative projects he is involved in is a start-up called ‘Leviathan’. Check out the video below to find out how Leviathan is trying to encourage a global decentralization.

Vahagn gave an eclectic yet stimulating talk on everything from art to IT to politics.

Here are a few take-aways from the talk:

On digital communications:

The era of mass surveillance has thrown up a number of ethical questions. On the one hand, we are told that our private messages, on Facebook or WhatsApp, can now be accessed from external interests – is this right? On the other hand, if having access to our messages is in the interests of security, do we have a right to deny that access? Some have responded to this debate by creating or using communications services that bypass a centralised authority, thereby rendering our messages, and those of criminals, undetectable. Does our desire for privacy trump our country’s need for safety? 

On economics:

The global financial crisis of 2008 has seen an unprecedented crisis of confidence in the world’s banks. Perhaps what is needed is a move towards a decentralised system in which no single interest or authority maintains a position of a control, and therefore power cannot be abused. Economic systems, like the e-currency system BitCoin, are doing just that. Will this trend continue or are centralised banking systems here to stay?

On politics:

From Greece, to Armenia, to the Arab World, citizens are having the same conversations: should we follow the example of the European Union and others, and continue to invest out strength in a central authority? Or does bigger not always mean better? Should we resist this temptation and settle for more localised decision-making authorities? 

What do you think? Should we focus more on decentralisation? We’d love to hear you thoughts.

Found this interesting? Come to our next talk! Don’t forget Kolba Cafes are open to the public every month…

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