S04 Ep. 07 Michael Zargham – Designing beyond the machine: Tokens, Blockchain & Contracts

Michael Zargham, founder and CEO of BlockScience and Board Member of the Metagov Project, shares his views on how Blockchain and other emerging technologies are making new ways of organizing possible. Yet, Michael believes that, so far, we are not fully using the potential of these affordances to create something new.

Smart contracts are becoming widespread, but does the relationship between crypto and organizing stop there? What’s next? Which new “non-familiar” possibilities of design will we see unlocked in the next few years? Michael describes how systems designers will need to be humble and leave space for systems to evolve through enabling constraints. He also believes that the gap between the complexity of organizational design and transparency of decision-making is closing through “healthy DAOs,” blurring the line between those making the rules and those acting upon the rules.

Michael holds a Ph.D. in systems engineering from the University of Pennsylvania where he studied optimization and control of decentralized networks. Thanks to his experience, Michael Zargham has a non-common point of view on designing beyond the machine.

Remember that you can always find transcripts and key highlights of the episode on our website: boundaryless.io/podcast/michael-zargham

Key Highlights
👉 How new affordances for organizing are created by Blockchain and other emerging technologies.
👉 The gap between the complexity of organizational design and how it is documented.
👉 The “Animating purpose” is core to what the organization does and why.
👉 How to design mechanisms without being mechanistic.
👉 How designers need to leave empty space and provide enabling constraints.
👉 Systems engineers as civil engineers: the civil servant ethics approach.
👉 Finances as constraints rather than goals in emerging mutualist institutions.

Topics (Chapters)
(00:00) Michael Zargham’s quote
(00:59) Intro and Michael Zargham’s bio
(02:33) New technologies, new affordances
(06:04) Beyond Smart contracts: how deep is the relationship between crypto and organization?
(09:03) The new “non-familiar” possibilities of designing next-generation voting public
(14:41) How an organization can “use” the Conviction voting
(19:55) The gap between organizational design and the documentation of the organizational design
(24:23) “Animating purpose” is core to the organization and what it does
(29:49) A new era of “Design as a participatory system”?
(33:26) The role of the designer: risks and opportunities
(40:59) The civil servant ethics approach for designers
(46:18) Michael Zargham’s breadcrumbs

To find out more about Michael Zargham’s work:
> Twitter: https://twitter.com/mzargham
> LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mczargham
> Block Science: https://block.science
> cadCAD: http://cadcad.org
> Metagov: https://metagov.org

Other references and mentions:
> Gardens: https://gardensdao.eth.limo/#/home
> Delphia: https://delphia.com/team
> “Design as Participation” by Kevin Slavin: https://jods.mitpress.mit.edu/pub/design-as-participation/release/1
> Boundaryless interview with Jeff Emmett: https://youtu.be/eI6yhPdfOnE

Michael’s suggested breadcrumbs (things listeners should check out):
> “Mint and Burn” Podcast by Kelsie Nabben: https://www.rmit.edu.au/news/podcasts/mint-and-burn
> “Mutualism” by Sara Horowitz: https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/621946/mutualism-by-sara-horowitz
> “Engineering a Safer World” by Nancy G. Leveson: https://mitpress.mit.edu/9780262533690/engineering-a-safer-world

Recorded on 12 October 2022.

Get in touch with Boundaryless:
Find out more about the show and the research at Boundaryless at https://boundaryless.io/resources/podcast
> Twitter: https://twitter.com/boundaryless_
> Website: https://boundaryless.io/contacts
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Music
Music from Liosound / Walter Mobilio. Find his portfolio here: https://blss.io/Podcast-Music