State of the DAO: History of DAOs, How to DAO, and DAOs absorbing the internet

[Opening]

This week in State of the DAOs we take a look back in time at how DAOs evolved, from their early iterations to the emergent ecosystem that is unfolding today. We also feature hand-picked articles that capture the current state of DAOs, and share key insights to unlock the latest trends and ecosystem highlights.

Authors: Bankless DAO Writers Guild (gioser, Alvo von A, Adi G, hirokennelly.eth, Jake and Stake, scottyk, siddhearta, frogmonkee)

This is the official newsletter of the BanklessDAO. You are subscribed to this newsletter because you were a Premium Member of the Bankless Newsletter as of May 1, 2021. To unsubscribe, edit your settings here.

A History of DAOs

Society is an endeavor in human coordination and organization. Governments organize people and the state to serve and provide for the welfare of their citizens. Politicians organize the constituents they serve. CEOs organize workers and resources to satisfy their customers. However, most of us will never sit in these positions of power, responsible for coordinating humans at scale. This divide between coordinators and coordinated results in a disconnect in values and goals between the two groups. This is exactly why, when we try to change things around us it feels like we do not have the power to do so.

DAOs fix that.

Decentralized Autonomous Organizations are an effective way to work with like-minded people from all over the world. Think of them as an internet-native organization that is collectively managed and owned by its members. DAOs provide the tools necessary to effectively organize people and resources, making them accessible to everyone. If enough people want to work towards a common goal, they can organize themselves, changing and shaping the future as they see fit.

https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/sj8HASe-d5kM5-Z9n_OOMauAvHwTUhnBD5RidsHesMpU4Iszbm7C51JFioQNA4nt44qtl_tfVwLvaWxLLybQo7eeBABPT9EpmVsx5UEi26h4LBUXf1tjRj3u59EJVfe9fFPLcaRH

(link: https://twitter.com/awrigh01/status/1450461045408026642)

Or, as frogmonkee & William M Peaster articulate in their recent article, DAOs are:

• Decentralized, because they are community-owned, grassroots-driven, and loosely organized (in contrast to a hierarchical, tightly-structured centralized org like a bureaucratic agency or company).
• Autonomous, because their shared rules and shared treasuries are encoded and automatically enforced on the Ethereum blockchain.
• Organizations, because they’re groups of people that associate and coordinate around specific purposes.