TLDR (1 paragraph)
We have the agency to collectively shape our future - we should use it to make sure we choose a future where we do not destroy ourselves (at least) and maximize human thriving (at most).
Executive Summary (1 page)
Every choice we make shapes the future. Our ability to influence outcomes—our agency— while constrained by physics, law, economics, or culture - gives us the ability to steer our future.
Agency is not just individual, civilization is massively multiplayer, and so we need to find new ways to create massively multiplayer collective agency.
The time is now. As Antonio Gramsci says “The old world is dying, and the new world struggles to be born: now is the time of monsters.”. As traditional institutions decay, we need new ways to navigate an uncertain future. Emerging technologies like blockchain and AI offer tools for better coordination, enabling collective decision-making.
To thrive in this rapidly evolving landscape, we must:
- Recognize and overcome limitations on our agency.
- Use collective intelligence to work together.
- Move beyond outdated institutions + build new 21st century networked institutions that find a way to avoid collapse + instead thrive.
The multiverse of possible futures is vast, and the direction we take depends on the choices we make today. LFG.
Our Choices, Our World: Collective Thriving in an Uncertain Future
Preamble
I wrote this piece to get these ideas out of my head after sharing them multiple times at the General Forum for Ethereum Localism Boulder and hearing them resonate.
Conversations kept circling back to the same themes—agency, coordination, and how emerging social movements reshape our collective future. Rather than repeating myself in fragments, I wanted to articulate the full picture: how our choices shape reality, why the future is collectively determined, and what tools we need to navigate it.
This is an exploration of those ideas—an attempt to sketch the terrain of possibility and the forces that drive it. If I get positive feedback from this piece, i may expand it into a 3 part series (this piece being the first):
- Our Choices, Our Universe: Collective Thriving in an Uncertain Future
- A New Epistemology: Individual & Collective Thriving in the 21st century
- Groundswell: Networked Foundations for a Networked World
Introduction
At every moment, we stand at the crossroads of possibility. The decisions we make, both individually and collectively, determine the reality we experience.
This post explores how we can navigate these choices wisely, considering the constraints that govern agency, the power of collective decision-making, and the role of emerging technologies like Ethereum and AI in shaping our shared future.
As the industrial-age institutions that once guided society begin to decay, we must develop new maps and models for navigating this era. With the right action, we can avoid collapse and steer toward a future of thriving rather than destruction.
Navigating a Multiverse of Possible Futures
In quantum physics, a particle exists in a superposition of states until it is observed, at which point it collapses into a definite state, governed by underlying quantum probabilities.
The Many-Worlds Interpretation (MWI) of quantum theory suggests that every quantum event creates a branching of parallel realities, where all possible outcomes occur in separate, non-communicating universes. Instead of a wave function “collapsing” into a single outcome, reality constantly splits into multiple versions, each representing a different possibility. This implies that an infinite number of parallel universes exist, each following its own unique timeline based on the choices made at every quantum interaction.
This fundamental uncertainty at the subatomic level does not merely remain confined to the microscopic world—it cascades upward, influencing the biological and neurological processes that drive human decision-making.
The brain, composed of trillions of neurons firing in complex patterns, operates within an environment shaped by quantum-scale interactions, from the probabilistic release of neurotransmitters to the intricate chemistry governing thought and perception. As a result, every choice we make emerges from a nested hierarchy of probabilities—beginning with the indeterminacy of quantum fluctuations and culminating in the structured, but still probabilistic, process of cognition.
In this way, the multiversal wave of possibilities inherent in quantum mechanics does not disappear at human scales but instead resolves into a singular experienced reality through the lens of conscious decision-making, where randomness, determinism, and agency coexist in shaping our actions and the future we create.
Put simply - the choices we make, consciously or unconsciously, shape the trajectory of the world around us.
We choose the branch of the multiverse we want to go to through our agency. This is an incredibly useful abstraction.
Most of our daily decisions may seem trivial—choosing between coffee or tea in the morning won’t noticeably alter the course of history. Yet, even the smallest choices contribute to the unfolding of our personal reality, subtly shaping our habits, relationships, and future opportunities.
More pivotal decisions—such as choosing a career path, moving to a new city, or committing to a relationship—become defining moments, branching our lives in drastically different directions.
These individual forks in the multiverse set off ripple effects, influencing not only our own trajectory but also the people and systems around us.
A Multi-Player Multiverse of Possible Futures
Large scale coordination is ultimately built upon countless personal decisions, each one a thread weaving together the reality we experience. Together, we shape the future.
The challenge is that most of these decisions are interconnected, forming an ever-expanding web of causality. The more we understand this interconnected web, the better we can navigate it deliberately rather than being swept along passively.
The Spectrum of Agency: Who Shapes the Future?
Agency—the ability to make and act upon decisions—is not infinite - it exists on a spectrum.
Some individuals and institutions have far more influence over global events than others. A billionaire, for example, has greater access to resources and decision-making power than an average citizen.
However, agency is not solely a matter of wealth or status; it is also affected by mental frameworks, knowledge, and the ability to coordinate with others. Factors like learned helplessness, addiction, or social structures can also limit one’s agency.
Meanwhile, movements, communities, and coalitions can amplify individual agency by working together toward a common goal.
Agency is not just about making decisions but about understanding which decisions matter. A well-coordinated group of individuals, even without wealth or institutional power, can significantly alter the course of history if they focus their agency effectively. As Margaret Mead says “Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world; indeed, it’s the only thing that ever has."
While agency is powerful, it is not limitless. It exists within a hierarchy of constraints:
- Physics and Mathematics – The fundamental laws of the universe are non-negotiable. No amount of willpower will allow someone to defy gravity unaided or make 2+2 equal 5.
- Biological and Psychological Factors – Human bodies and minds have limits. We need food, sleep, and social connection, and we are subject to cognitive biases.
- Institutions, Law, Economic & Technological Systems – The tools and infrastructures available shape what is possible. A society with advanced technology has more agency than one without it. Money is to economic systems like energy is to physical systems, the further you are from the flows the harder it is to be impactful.
- Social and Cultural Norms – Cultural values, political structures, and laws influence which choices are seen as acceptable or even conceivable.
- Agency & Collective Agency– At the highest level, coordinated groups can shape culture, movements, economies, and even technological paradigms, redefining what is possible.
Understanding these layers, and the connections between them, helps us navigate constraints effectively. This hierarchy of constraints begins with the most immutable laws of nature, and ends with things that are more mutable. It starts with the timeless, and ends with things that can be mutated on the scale of a human lifetime.
We cannot change the laws of physics, but we can alter economic structures, cultural narratives, and institutional frameworks. The highest form of agency is recognizing which constraints are fixed and which can be modified—and then acting accordingly.
Collective Sensemaking in an uncertain world
To navigate an increasingly complex world, we need decision-making processes that allow for rapid adaptation. The OODA loop—Observe, Orient, Decide, Act—is a framework developed for military strategy but applicable to any form of decision-making.
- Observe – Gather as much relevant information as possible.
- Orient – Analyze the information, considering biases and perspectives.
- Decide – Choose the best course of action based on the available data.
- Act – Implement the decision, then return to the observation stage to adjust as needed.
The OODA loop is an atomic unit of incremental progress in exploration of these search space of possibilities. If we are collectively searching for “how do we maximize human thriving?” together, we can explore it by iteration in OODA loops…
This loop is not just an individual process—it becomes exponentially more powerful when applied at the collective level. When groups share information and coordinate effectively, they can make better decisions than any single individual could alone.
Multiplayer Mapping of the search space
This exploration will not be single player, and it will not lead to a fixed destination—it is an evolving search space of possibilities, shaped by the collective decisions of those navigating it.
Unlike a lone explorer charting an unknown land, our journey through this search space is fundamentally multiplayer. Every choice made by individuals, organizations, and institutions affects the available pathways for others, creating a dynamic feedback loop of constraints and opportunities.
This multiplayer nature of exploration has profound implications:
- Path Dependency & Network Effects – Early decisions shape the landscape, making certain futures more probable while foreclosing others. Coordination around promising paths can create runaway momentum, just as misaligned incentives can entrench failure modes.
- Coordination & Antagonism – Different groups explore the space with conflicting visions and incentives. Some cooperate to build resilient, thriving futures, while others compete for dominance or short-term gains, potentially leading to coordination failures and adversarial dynamics.
- Distributed Intelligence & Emergent Solutions – No single entity has perfect information, but collective intelligence—if structured well—can optimize for better outcomes. Open collaboration, knowledge-sharing, and decentralized decision-making structures (like DAOs) help ensure that exploration is broad, diverse, coordinated, and robust.
- Hyperstitions & Self-Fulfilling Pathways – The more people believe in a particular future, the more real it becomes. Shared visions act as attractors in the search space, concentrating resources, talent, and effort toward making them reality.
- Speed of Iteration & Adaptability – In an accelerating world, the groups that can rapidly update their models, discard failing strategies, and iterate on successful ones will be best positioned to navigate uncertainty. Agility at scale—enabled by technology, governance mechanisms, and trust networks—determines who thrives.
- Technology as a Force Multiplier – AI, blockchain, and programmable incentives reshape the nature of exploration itself, making it easier to test hypotheses, enforce agreements, and scale cooperation. The question is whether we use these tools to align incentives toward collective flourishing or let them reinforce extractive, zero-sum dynamics.
Understanding that the exploration of the future is multiplayer forces us to rethink decision-making models. It’s not just about choosing the best individual path—it’s about shaping shared maps, aligning incentives, and ensuring that the systems we build allow for cooperative, high-agency navigation of an uncertain world.
Building the Future: Capital Allocation via Blockchain Technology
I think that the highest leverage point we have in the constraints stack (from math & physics to culture) is the “Institutions, Law, Economic & Technological Systems” layer.
The key is ensuring that coordination mechanisms are trustworthy, that positive sum games are realized, and that the collective agentic energy is directed towards outcomes that meet the moment. Blockchain-based commitments and decentralized resource allocation + governance models help facilitate large-scale collaboration, preventing coordination failures.
One of the most powerful ways to influence the future is through capital allocation—deciding where resources go and how they are used. Historically, this process has been controlled by centralized institutions: governments, banks, and large corporations - and as a result has been inefficient, ineffective, centralized, top-down, and undemocratic.
However, the rise of blockchain technology introduces new possibilities. Decentralized systems can enable credible commitments, where agreements are enforced through code rather than trust in centralized authorities. This makes it possible to create new economic and governance structures that empower collective agency.
Lets pinch & zoom on the “Institutions, Law, Economic & Technological Systems” layer of the stack. We are effectively building a new layer of onchain capital allocation on top of a new stack.
For example:
- DAOs allow communities to pool resources and make decisions collectively.
- Retroactive public goods funding rewards those who contribute value to society based on measurable impact.
- Programmable capital allocation enables funds to be directed toward projects transparently and efficiently - there are many examples of this listed at allo.expert and allobook.gitcoin.co. I hope that Allo.capital can be a foundational contributor to the creation of more.
By using these tools, we can create institutions that are more adaptable and aligned with long-term human flourishing.
Conclusion: Choosing our path towards collective thriving
The future is not predetermined—it is shaped by the choices we make today. As old paradigms decay, we are in uncharted territory, where new systems must be designed from the ground up.
By understanding the constraints on agency, leveraging new coordination mechanisms, and actively participating in shaping the future, we can steer toward a world of thriving rather than collapse.
The old world is breaking down, but in its place, we have the chance to build something extraordinary. The future will not be dictated by institutions of the past, but by those who choose to create, innovate, and collaborate. We are not passive observers of history—we are its architects of the future history of the open internet. The range of possible futures is vast. The question is: which thread will we choose to follow? What kind of world will we build together?
This is part 1 of a 3 part series, tentatively:
- Our Choices, Our Universe: Collective Thriving in an Uncertain Future
- A New Epistemology: Individual & Collective Thriving in the 21st century
- Groundswell: Networked Foundations for a Networked World