Positive Sum Worlds: Remaking Public Goods

Every one of us is a beneficiary of the public goods of societies past. These grand projects humble us. Cathedrals, great canals, sanitation, the expansion of mass literacy—they tell us that the "goodness" of a public good is also measured in terms of its longevity. To match these great works, we must extend our time horizon. We want to e

Public goods are enacted by social institutions that reproduce patterns of behavior in the public interest.

We want nothing less than entire communities aping into a redefinition of public concern. The opportunity in front of us is bigger than any one protocol. In today's world, capital is not scarce; ambitious visions for the public's benefit are.

By addressing concerns rooted in our felt localities and establishing social models for others, we can catalyze truly global public goods.

one way to manifest positive externalities is to consider the success of others as your own.

Visions of truly global DAOs representing billions of people are a fantasy. But if we apply our principle of "positive externalities" to include future citizens of the places we live, protocol-built public goods starts to look more like community-driven industrial policy.

We are members of a multitude of publics, and we must bring the perspective of our full selves to the creation of public goods.

Consider a classic public good: a public park. We might say park visitors are generically "users" of this public space, or that anyone within driving distance is adequately served. But this categorization feels distinctly unsatisfying. "User" does not capture meaningful detail about a population that collectively values free acc

A value system is fostered through storytelling and negotiation in forums of public discourse.