You raise a compelling point—and decentralized democracy doesn’t necessarily disagree with the value of strong, autonomous individuals. But it does challenge the idea that such individuals exist prior to their social context.

Instead of starting with the individual as an isolated atom, decentralized democracy asks: what actually constitutes an individual? It suggests that autonomy emerges from relationships—especially through one’s relation to property, expression, and influence. These aren’t just things an individual “has”; they’re co-shaped through interaction with others and the world.

In this view, society isn’t built on individuals—it’s built through the relational processes that allow individuality to emerge in the first place.