This.
Also, "distributed leadership" is a much more accurate term than the academic "acephalic" or "leaderless". Liked.
Discussion
Joe's good at felling trees. Joe teaches others to fell trees and how to pick which ones to take.
Mary is very good with goats. She is the best person in the community to consult about goats.
The Beave is that crazy dude that lives on the mountain, but, if you need a crazy project to be built, he's the one to do it, and he teaches anyone that wants to learn how to weld to weld.
Distributed leadership relies of competence spread across many domains, which one person cannot master. If people value something, a natural distribution tends to occur, and if you can maximize the use of this competence spread, you can have most of your bases covered without having to delve into the nonsense of political hierarchies.
IMO.
And, for the record, this is the kind of community I seek to build.
Probably a pipe dream, but... I'm allowed.
Let's see if we go by this structure. How do you propose protecting the community from people or other tribes who wish to conquer the land?
Who is responsible for the order to avoid chaos within and outside the community?
Eg. Are we saying there MUST be specialised group to take care of this based on passion?
Are we assuming in this structure that everyone has the good intent? How do you forsee this type of community innovate if we each have our forte? Genuinely curious
Let's see if we go by this structure. How do you propose protecting the community from people or other tribes who wish to conquer the land?
Voluntary militias and mutual defense agreements. These are VERY effective. But, if the US is coming after you, you are going to have a very bad time. That's just how things go.
Who is responsible for the order to avoid chaos within and outside the community?
Ideally, external strife is external and IDGAF about that. Internal issues would be figured out via a variety of methods: duels, arbitration, etc.
Eg. Are we saying there MUST be specialised group to take care of this based on passion?
Nope. But... That tends to happen over time in a permissive group.
Are we assuming in this structure that everyone has the good intent?
Yes.
How do you forsee this type of community innovate if we each have our forte? Genuinely curious
With enough people, it would be very adaptable, especially with a shared mindset of innovation and cooperation. It takes a lot of work on relationships to build that kind of community.
I can see the potential of this type of structure. However, as you put it, if outside forces will come at you then you will be exposed and vulnerable. I can also see the challenge of isolating a community which may lead to a stand up with ill intent forces. Hence, it is crucial to have alliances but I am aware that alliances are double edge sword. There is also a question of who is taking care of the infrastructure? Eg communal buildings. If this is by volunteer then who is to agree how much to spend, what design and the logistics. The bottom line, human nature is complex. Sadly there is no straight answers nor did we learn much from our history. As we innovate, we became even more disconnected. Having said that, I still have strong hope for the humanity. The only way forward is to never stop persevering on the things we truly believe and in thr hope that we all get to the same conclusion. ☺️
It has been an insightful chat! Very productive open dialogue. I wish we are all like this. 👍💯👏
