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# System prepended metadata

title: Distributed economic computation
tags: [What is happening]

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# Distributed economic computation

*Distributed economic computation* (DEC) is an architecture where all layers of the economic stack—state, computation, value definition, and governance—are made programmable, interoperable, and composable at the edge. Unlike blockchain systems that merely replicate state at the edge, distributed economic computation enables agents to compute, coordinate, and evolve value together, in real time, across the network. See here a comparison table we are working on: [The rise of the internet native economic agent: a new value computation paradigm.](https://hackmd.io/@ECSA/SyUNVEFBex)

DEC is the paradigm that distributed computation protocols enable. It means leveraging network connectivity and programmable protocols to perform economic computation directly within the network fabric and at its edges (agents). Key characteristics include network-wide state awareness, multi-dimensional value (utility) calculation, coordination via peer protocols, and programmable economic logic executed decentrally.

DEC represents a fundamental leap beyond previous economic coordination models. It's not merely about decentralizing and replicating the network state, but about fundamentally changing where and how economic intelligence operates.

Contrast with previous paradigms:
* *Legacy economic computation* (LEC): While markets are distributed in one sense, their core computational logic often relies on centralized intermediaries (banks, exchanges etc) and crucially, compresses information into narrow price signals primarily optimized for capital accumulation. Corporate computation is explicitly centralized and maximizing the local view.
* *Blockchain computation*: Innovated by decentralizing state replication and transaction validation via consensus protocols. However, re-centralizes the economic logic itself around a single global ledger and a monolithic token/asset model, limiting expressive capacity and forcing diverse activities into a constrained monetary grammar.


Our approach: Distribution of logic and agency. DEC pushes computation further:
* *Logic to the edge:* Instead of a central authority or a single global state machine dictating the economic rules, DEC allows programmable economic logic to be defined and executed at the network edge – by the participating agents and within specific, context-aware economic spaces.
* *Network-wide awareness:* Computation is informed not just by local interactions but by the broader network topology, relationship structures, and global value flows. Protocols can be designed to sense and respond to system-wide states.
* *Multi-dimensional value:* DEC natively supports the calculation and optimization of rich, multi-dimensional utility functions defined by the network itself, moving beyond the single dimension of price/profit.
* *Peer protocol coordination:* Interactions (staking, credit, governance) happen directly between agents according to shared protocol rules, minimizing reliance on intermediaries and enabling more complex, stateful coordination patterns. Market is not the only distributed coordination mechanism.

"Edge computation" specifically emphasizes this shift of computational power and economic space agency outwards to the participants. Agents are no longer just endpoints submitting transactions to a central logic; they become active computational nodes participating in the definition, calculation, and coordination of value within their specific economic context.

Why we think it is important: DEC unlocks the potential for more adaptive, resilient, scalable, and expressive economic systems. It allows networks to harness their collective intelligence directly, enabling the emergence of internet-native economic agents and coordination patterns better suited to the complexity of our interconnected world.


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### Related context items (What is happening?):
* [Economic computation](https://hackmd.io/@ECSA/rkkUwdzBge)
* [Evolution of economic computation](https://hackmd.io/@ECSA/H1-O2OGSgg) 
* [Protocols are political](https://hackmd.io/@ECSA/HJabbrHHlx)
* [AI is forcing a fundamental rethink of economic coordination ](https://hackmd.io/@ECSA/SkzrBIHHgl)



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### [ecsa thesis: Table of Contents](https://hackmd.io/@ECSA/BJNHpLfrxl)