Editor’s note: Besides following tech developments and innovation, our author is a musical composer (Juilliard-trained). He has provided a musical composition for you to listen to while reading this column. This piece is called “Distributed.”
Last week, I wrote about “coevolutionary governance,” a term used to describe how society and technology, like AI, change together over time. It means ensuring that as technology develops, society adapts to use it responsibly. People create rules and guidelines to help technology benefit everyone, while society’s needs and values shape technology. It’s a way of balancing growth so they can improve together positively.
Today, we’ll explore a subset of evolutionary governance, known as “distributed agency.” This is the concept that the power to act or influence isn’t held by just one person or group but is shared among different actors or elements within a system. This idea is commonly explored in organizations, networks, or systems where various individuals, technologies, or parts collaborate. Here, the actions of one component can influence what others can do or how they behave.
Being coevolutionary is the opposite of consolidating power in one body or person. In organizations or projects where decision-making and action are decentralized, various members or units have the autonomy to make choices that influence the whole. Distributed agency is like having a potluck dinner where everyone brings a dish to share. Instead of one person deciding the entire menu, each guest contributes their favorite recipe, leading to a surprising and diverse feast. In decision-making and action, power cannot be hoarded by just one person or group. Instead, it’s sprinkled across various players, be they people, tech gadgets, or even automated systems, each adding their own flavor to the outcome.
Imagine a scenario where your smart home devices, your family members, and your pet’s automated feeder all have a say in how warm your house should be. That’s distributed agency—everyone and everything contribute to making decisions. It’s about embracing the chaos and creativity of many cooks in the kitchen, hopefully without ending up with too many desserts and no main courses.
Coevolutionary governance that results in distributed agency can be seen in various innovative and collaborative contexts where power and decision-making are spread across multiple stakeholders. One of the most impactful initiatives is in the process of software development that has led to AI. Open Source Software Development is akin to a jam session where musicians worldwide gather to riff together. Rather than having a single conductor dictating every note, developers from different backgrounds jump in with their code, tweaks, and features. The community vibes off each other’s contributions, much like a band. Decisions on the software’s direction are made through consensus and merit—where the best ideas lead the melody. This way, the software continuously evolves, resonating with its users’ rhythms and its creators’ innovative harmonies.
Technology and automation, networked systems, and ecological and social systems represent distinct but interconnected realms where distributed agency plays a pivotal role. In technology and automation, algorithms, AI, and automated processes significantly influence outcomes and decisions alongside human actors. Networked systems, such as blockchain technology and distributed computing, feature multiple nodes or users that collectively contribute to and shape the system’s function and direction. Similarly, the concept extends to ecological and social systems, complex adaptive environments where diverse biological and social actors interact, influencing and shaping each other within their ecosystems or communities. Together, these facets illustrate distributed agency’s broad application and impact across different domains.
More specifically, let’s examine how this relates to the climate. Imagine a global team of climate detectives—satellites, ocean buoys, and ground stations—collaborating to gather clues about Earth’s changing climate. This advanced network collects data on everything from storm patterns to ice cap thickness, providing a real-time snapshot of our planet’s health. Researchers and policymakers then utilize this wealth of information to forecast weather disasters and devise strategies for addressing climate change. It serves as a perfect example of how collective efforts enable us to stay one step ahead of Mother Nature’s curveballs, demonstrating that even in the battle against global warming, many hands (or sensors) make light work!
Our current institutions, corporations, and governments have not kept pace with changes in the world. They attempt to operate on the old control paradigm instead of on one that ensures that everyone thrives. These agencies and systems operate faithfully to the way we designed them, but they no longer address our current reality.
Coevolutionary governance and distributed agency are modern responses to the shortcomings of traditional institutions, which often struggle with rapid changes. Coevolutionary governance adapts continuously to external and internal shifts, ensuring systems remain flexible and responsive. By spreading decision-making across a network, distributed agency breaks down centralized power structures and enhances quick and diverse stakeholder responses. This results in greater resilience as systems leverage collective intelligence to withstand disruptions. These models also challenge the outdated scarcity mindset by promoting equitable resource allocation and reducing hoarding and inequality.
Additionally, they foster innovation by incorporating a wide range of perspectives, leading to more creative solutions. Importantly, these approaches prioritize ethical and inclusive development, enhancing community well-being and shared responsibility. Altogether, coevolutionary governance and distributed agency ensure that institutions are adaptable, inclusive, and equipped to thrive in an ever-changing world. One of my mentors, a social architect named Bill Veltrop, introduced me to this world twenty years ago.
The restructuring of organizations is often the result of social architects like Bill Veltrop; they are thinkers and practitioners who work on concepts like coevolutionary governance and distributed agency. They focus on designing, developing, and transforming social systems and structures to be more adaptive, inclusive, and sustainable. Their work involves rethinking how organizations, communities, and societies organize themselves, make decisions, and solve problems collectively.
Social architects apply principles from systems thinking, organizational development, and social sciences to create frameworks that distribute decision-making power, promote collaboration, and encourage resilience in the face of change. Their goal is often to devise ways that systems can coevolve with their environments and stakeholders, ensuring that governance is participatory, dynamic, and responsive to the needs and inputs of all involved.
In essence, social architects design the “architecture” of social systems to mirror the distributed networks and adaptive processes found in nature and successful technologies. Their goal is to create more equitable and effective organizations and communities.
