A dozen case studies of decentralization

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A dozen case studies of decentralization

Posted by Justin Long ⋅ July 16, 2008 ⋅

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Index to Case Studies
• Alcoholics Anonymous. A decentralized organization: anyone can set up a chapter, which follows a standard meeting format in order to accomplish a shared plausible promise (The Starfish and the Spider).
• Apache Indians in the United States. A decentralized state which could not be conquered by the hierarchical armies under the Spanish (The Starfish and the Spider).
• Illinois Tool Works. A global group of 650 decentralized business units in 45 countries employing 49,000 workers in a highly decentralized fashion. tinyurl.com…
• Pagan groups organize New Orleans cleanup. How the same pagan group that helped shut down the World Trade Organization conference in 1999 organized garbage clean up in New Orleans’ Ninth Ward. tinyurl.com…
• Toyota. The manufacturer uses well known swarming techniques to become one of the top four automakers in the world:
• The Serb project Radio B-92
• The Zapatista war in Mexico
• Asian triads
• Hamas
• American Christian Patriot Movement
• Committee for the Defense of Legitimate Human Rights
• Internet. The classic example: the online network of networks uses decentralized leadership and swarming techniques to deliver trillions of pieces of data every day.
• Peer-to-peer filesharing. The many varied decentralized networks distribute digital copies of music and video files, including illegal pirated forms, and have yet to be shut down by the music and film industries despite massive financial losses.
• Animal Liberation Front. A group of animal rights protestors in the United States uses swarming techniques to connect, organize, and execute attacks on labs.
• Skype. Peer-to-peer communication software uses swarming techniques to provide free secure voice calling over the Internet.
• Celtic missionary movement. The monasteries associated with the Celts rapidly multiplied all across Ireland, and then into Europe, and were largely responsible for refarming Europe after the devastation of war and disease.
• Wikipedia. This online encyclopedia uses swarming techniques to enable anyone to edit any page, and to collaboratively build up one of the largest collections of knowledge in the world.