A Socio-Political History of DAOs: From Cypherpunks to Web3

22-08-23 10:00

Read this article in 26 Minutes

AI summary

View the summary

Original title: "A POLITICAL HISTORY OF DAOS"

Original author: Kelsie Nabben

Original compilation: Dewei@DAOrayaki.org, DAOrayaki

< br>

As a product of social and technological development, why DAOs started has always been an interesting and important question topic of. The DAOrayaki Decentralized Editorial Committee curated "The Origin of DAOs", the previous article "DAOrayaki｜DAO and Organizational Management Development History, DAOrayaki｜DAO's Prehistory-Cooperatives, Game Guilds, and the Coming Network", thanks to RMIT Written by Kelsie Nabben, a researcher at the University's Center for Blockchain Innovation, this article was published on FWB and translated by the DAOrayaki community.

The story of the Cypherpunks mailing list, a humble 90s email server that turned decentralized technology into a human A new form of organization.

The Cypherpunks mailing list is a little-known 90s email server started by three Silicon Valley misfits interested in digital privacy. In 1992, Eric Hughes, a 20-something mathematician and computer programmer, had just returned to the Bay Area after working at a digital cash startup in Europe and was considering applying to graduate school. Timothy C. May, a 34-year-old electrical engineer with strong libertarian leanings, recently left his job as a senior scientist at Intel, opting to live on stock options so he could continue to pursue his interests: "Anarchy," science fiction writing, and rifles.

Hughes and May met at a party hosted by John Gilmore, a 37-year-old computer programmer , who later became a privacy activist, founded a digital rights advocacy group called the Electronic Frontier Foundation. Hughes, May, and Gilmour co-founded the Cypherpunks mailing list in September 1992, hoping to create a space where private "anarchists, utopians, and technologists" could discuss anonymous online networking, politics, and philosophy.

While it was only a passion project, reaching 700 members and about 30 messages a day at its peak, this early digital community was ultimately important to what we know The crypto world has had a huge impact. There is plenty of academic research to suggest that the Cypherpunk mailing list incubated ideas that eventually led to Bitcoin, the first fully functional peer-to-peer cryptocurrency network. Presumably, Satoshi Nakamoto, the individual or group that invented Bitcoin, is also considered a member of the list.

Cypherpunks are a group of cryptographers, hippies, computer programmers, hackers, activists and philosophers concerned with what the invention of cyberspace will bring to our economy and profound changes in the nature of social systems. They are united by the belief that people should be free from state interference in private affairs, and by the belief that this freedom can be achieved through the use of digital encryption, which allows people to communicate without being spied on . "Privacy is necessary for an open society in the electronic age," Hughes wrote in "The Cypherpunk Manifesto," the group's founding document.

"Computer technology is about to provide individuals and groups with the ability to communicate and interact in a completely anonymous manner. Two people can Exchange information, conduct business, and negotiate electronic contracts without the use of electronic devices. Interactions on the network will be untraceable...These developments will completely change the nature of government regulation, taxation and control of economic interactions, and control over information The ability to maintain secrecy will even change the nature of trust and reputation." -Timothy C. May, "Crypto-Anarchist Manifesto", 1988

Personal privacy is not threatened by state and corporate surveillance, and Cypherpunks pursues the development of a decentralized, encrypted and secure digital infrastructure. At personal gatherings in the Bay Area, they use role-playing games to simulate a private online network free from outside interference. For example, many conversations on mailing lists involved experiments in developing "forwarded mail," tools that allow people to send anonymous email-type messages without anyone being able to identify the sender.

Cypherpunks' main weapon against the threat of corporate and government surveillance is public key cryptography, a form of encryption that uses mathematical Secure communications over channels. As a social scientist and RMIT researcher, the author has been analyzing how the relatively niche Cypherpunk counterculture is laying the groundwork for self-organization through public blockchain-based infrastructures, innovations dating back to the 1960s. distributed computing in the 1970s and the breakthroughs in public-key cryptography in the 1970s and 1980s.

In other words, the author's research examines how Cypherpunks set the stage for the world of cryptocurrencies, Web3, and DAOs as we know them today - though not just Because of the technological innovations they cause. Their idea of combining distributed computing architecture and public-key cryptography with an emphasis on private digital networks -- probably their greatest contribution to Web3 -- is a means to advance their self-organizing political goals, proving that cryptography is a It is a socio-political phenomenon and not just a technical field.

DAO, after all, is a group of people gathered together to use blockchain technology to form a self-managed community to make decisions. If you're wondering how this distributed form of digital human organization came to be, the history of Cypherphunks is a good place to start.

The History of Cypherpunks

In order to understand the innovation of Cypherpunks, it is necessary to go back to distributed computing and The dawn of public-key cryptography, these tools are what Cypherpunks will integrate with their political vision.

In the 1960s, government-funded researchers developed distributed computing, a method of distributing computer hardware across multiple geographic locations. By "dispersing" physical computing units in this way, Cold War-era intelligence and national security agencies hoped to create "survivable" communications networks that could withstand attacks, so that government officials could continue to communicate even if critical infrastructure was compromised.

The idea that distributed hardware and networks could be used to create "resilient" communications originated in large part from engineer Paul Baran, who in the 1960s Wrote 13 papers on "distributed communications" while working at the RAND Corporation, a US government-funded research and development think tank. His research includes some breakthroughs related to public, decentralized technology to date, including "message blocks" (a component of blockchain technology) and advocating private digital networks through cryptography. According to reporter Katie Hafner, Baran said the issue of building a more resilient communications infrastructure is the "most important thing he can do" to improve society.

"Most of the technology to provide the required protection already exists in the form of contemporary cryptography and its related disciplines."

- Whitfield Diffie, Message to Cypherpunks Mailing List, 1993

Public-key cryptography, or the use of encryption techniques to protect information from Accessed by a third party, it was discovered in 1973 by cryptography researchers at the UK's Government Communications Headquarters (GCHQ), the government security agency, and independently in 1978 by cryptography researchers Whitfield Diffie, Martin Hellman, and Ralph Merkle. Cryptographers at GCHQ created a highly classified encryption scheme known as "Unsecret Encryption," which was eventually shared with the NSA in the United States.

Because encryption is considered a national security tool, research into and access to encryption technology is highly embargoed. For example, the NSA monitors all patent filings on cryptography and legally classifies those it deems too powerful for the public. In 1975, the U.S. government also introduced the Data Encryption Standard, a national encryption standard for public and commercial use. It's just one of a series of regulations limiting citizens' access to cryptography knowledge and tools, and part of a decades-long battle over data privacy known as the "crypto wars."

In 1976, however, researchers Whitfield, Diffie, and Martin Hellman published a paper entitled "New Directions in Cryptography" Thesis that introduced public key cryptography to the world. (Ironically, it was funded by the National Science Foundation). According to reporter Steven Levy, Diffie was unhappy with a well-developed technology being kept secret, and said he believes in a "decentralized view of power" where people use encryption tools to keep their personal data private.

Cryptography carries its own infrastructural politics, imagination, and possibility at the intersection of state and individual. Digital encryption is a fundamental political security technology and a site of struggles for privacy, liberty, and democracy that scholar Linda Monsees calls “cryptopolitics.” Later in his career, Diffie eventually became one of many public-key cryptographers to appear on the Cypherpunks mailing list. Many of them are deeply involved in efforts to influence and shape public policy debates around personal and business safety at the dawn of the digital age.

By the late 1980s, dern-day cryptocurrency. One of them is Nick Szabo, probably best known as the inventor of the phrase 'smart contract' and founder of the eco-cash project Bit Gold. Another is Zooko Wilcox, He is the co-founder of the future privacy cryptocurrency Zcash. Eric Hughes even worked briefly as a computer programmer at Digicash before he moved back to the US and co-founded the Cypherpunks mailing list, though he decided he didn't like the company (DigiCash went bankrupt in 1988 due to conflicts of vision, personalities and failed business deals).

Chaum's electronic currency was Designed with a system that involves centralized currency issuance, transaction confirmation, and settlement. In other words, it is no different from a nation-state banking system, with the system itself acting as a trusted intermediary between users. Users' privacy is easily compromised Banking interfaces, and Digicash is not censorship-resistant. Chaum values privacy, but he thinks the best way for cryptography to gain widespread adoption is to integrate it with existing financial systems. Cypherpunks — including a handful of former Digicash employees , including Hughes -- disagree.

< /p>

From Cryptographer to Cypherpunk (1990s-2008)

To 1994, Cypherpunk The mailing list has grown to hundreds of members. Being a Cypherpunk provides a sense of belonging, a unity of purpose, and a shared identity that only the Internet can provide. It is a melting pot of personalities engaged in a dynamic exchange of ideas , many also possess the technical acumen and hacking skills to embody these ideas in real life.

Conversations on the mailing lists often go back to the fundamentals of cryptography Potential to change society.

Cypherpunks are interested in using encryption tools to create anonymous communication networks and marketplaces that are free from government censorship or interference. In other words, they see these tools as building blocks of infrastructure that allow people to create alternatives to modern nation-state structures and as a means of self-organization.

Cypherpunks hope these technologies will make it possible for people to inhabit "temporary autonomous zones" - creating temporary spaces in the physical world or in cyberspace, bypassing formal control systems sociopolitical strategy, identified in 1985 by anarchist writer and future mailing list member Peter Lamborn Wilson, also known as Hakim Bey. Already in 2020, the American public got a taste of these ideas through the creation of anarchist encampments such as Seattle's "Capitol Hill Autonomous Zone," where activists took over six city blocks during Black Lives Matter protests. Today, the blockchain community refers to digital manifestations of this political theory as “decentralized autonomous organizations” and “network states.” It was Cypherpunks that pointed the way for these ideas to develop in the context of cyberspace.

Naturally, this political theory of self-governing states has created a deep interest in the emancipatory capabilities of non-state, non-centrally issued money. Inspired by the democratic spirit of public-key cryptographers, as well as Chaum's work on blind signing, private digital cash, and electronic forwarders, Cypherpunks use their mailing lists to document various attempts to establish an electronic token network. These include "electronic gold" in 1996; Blockstream founder Adam Back's anti-spam proof-of-work algorithm Hashcash in 1997; Wei Dai's anonymous proof-of-stake electronic cash network b-money in 1998; and work by Nick Szabo in 2005 Proof-of-quantity cryptographic hash string Bit Gold, which foreshadows the architecture of the Bitcoin blockchain.

In 2008, a developer or group of developers under the pseudonym Satoshi Nakamoto published a white paper on the Cryptographers mailing list, which is part of the Cypherpunks mailing list a branch. The white paper proposes the concept of Bitcoin, a "peer-to-peer electronic cash" that represents the first public, permissionless, cryptographically secure peer-to-peer protocol. Based on the idea of incorporating Bitcoin, academics and members of cryptography sent this message: The headline in The Times in January 2009 read: "Choice on brink of second bailout of banks." This article about the global financial crisis and Nation State Bank's failed political statement reminds of Bitcoin's origins. It's not just a currency; it's a tool in a larger project to create decentralized economic, political, and organizational structures in society.

By the early 2000s, after years of heated exchanges, the Cypherpunks mailing list began to crumble under the weight of its own internal politics. While contributors continued to write about privacy and encryption technologies, the atmosphere suffered from an increase in noise, spam, and infighting. Some participants took issue with May's political views, and he has made increasingly violent and racist statements in the name of liberalism. May eventually left the mailing list, and the chat among the original Cypherpunks almost completely disappeared. Although this server still exists today, interesting people who had a strong interest in exchanging cryptography-based software and building things have left. However, archives for many mailing lists are still available.

Ultimately, Cypherpunks' most enduring contribution to the development of public, decentralized blockchain technology is the technology that enables self-governing social infrastructure and The idea of political decentralization. Social scientist Lana Swartz describes Bitcoin as a "theory of the larger social order" and a challenge to it, a technology that has the potential to reimagine the nature of money and change society and culture in the process.

Not all of the original Cypherpunks agree with this: Hal Finney, for example, is also a member of an adjacent mailing list called Extropians Member, he wrote: “We need to win politically, not technologically, to protect our privacy.” What is certain, however, is that the conceptual framework established by Bitcoin itself has evolved over the past 13 years. development, providing a wealth of information for further research and development in the field of cryptographically secure and decentralized tools and infrastructure. Like Bitcoin itself, these tools are formed and shaped according to the personal, political, and ideological concerns of those who create and use them.

< /p>

From Cypherpunks to Web3

The three historical eras I describe in this article - Distributed Computing, Public Key Cryptography and Cryptography The punk subculture - shows how decentralized technology has evolved from a computing architecture developed by governments to the basis of a political philosophy advocating for the creation of alternatives to existing social and economic infrastructure. Understanding where we came from provides insight into the broader societal aspirations and capabilities of these tools in the hands of the communities that use them today. It reminds us that, at the heart of decentralized technology, is a social and political phenomenon.

However, it was Cypherpunks who advanced the somewhat radical idea that distributed, encrypted network technologies could be used to facilitate forms of self-organization, representing Alternatives to nation-state structures. This sociological theory of decentralization is based on political ends, where politics is "freedom" (at least in the sense of cyberliberalism, which argues that digital media technologies can and should constitute a space for personal freedom), and where the means are technological .

The idea of connecting the technical principles of decentralization with the sociological theories of political decentralization is still informing the public blockchain community today, from From projects like 1Hive, which aims to build its own open source software, free from outside interference or coercion, to DoraHacks, Gitcoin DAO, which uses millions of dollars in crowdsourced funding to support the development of open source projects as freely accessible "public goods" ". In 2013, before the idea of a blockchain-based DAO emerged, Dan Larimer, co-founder of the Bitshares, Steem, and EOS blockchains, described Bitcoin as a "decentralized autonomous corporation" (DAC) that held the currency Some liken it to the shareholders of an organization that generates revenue by providing services on the free market.

Five days later, Vitalik Buterin, a young Bitcoin Magazine blogger, echoed Larimer's statement, noting that companies are nothing more than "humans and contracts that humans interact with in person." And to control the collection of property through the legal system, a decentralized organization involves a group of humans interacting with each other according to agreements specified in code and enforced on the blockchain,” Buterin wrote in 2014.

Revisiting our origins invites us to consider what it means today to be part of a DAO like Friends With Benefits. Some DAOs want to run investment clubs, other players in the space want to move beyond a hyper-financialized world and find other interesting, creative and social uses for cryptography and cryptocurrencies. Still, like mailing lists, these new forms of human organization offer us something that's increasingly hard to come by on today's heavily surveilled internet.