This is an announcement for a first-of-it's-kind trust-less decentralized governance system -
Bypass.
Systems related to this concept have been proposed and discussed before (see "E-Democracy" and "Open-Source Governance") but have failed to gain traction, largely due to poor implementation - centralization, only partial implementation, little incentive for users to participate etc.
This is not a cryptocurrency in the traditional sense. It is more like a socio-political-economic system. The Bypass tokens (coins) in this system will have no inherent value (see technological points below). Consequently there is no inherent rush with developing this system (often associated with a pump-and-dump cryptocurrency). Bypass tokens should be treated as a raw material which
everyone is free to use.
Mission Statement:To develop a system which can effectively demonstrate an operational direct democracy, using the latest in decentralized and trust-less systems technology.
As such, the mission statement calls for not only the successful implementation of the system but also the exposure of it to the world at large (particularly to those who would be most interested in it and excited by it).
Key Technological Points:[1] Arbitrary amounts of colorless/standard Bypass tokens (BPT) can be generated at will by each user.
[2] Bypass tokens can only achieve a value by applying colors to them.
[3] There is no monetary block reward or transaction fee award given to those securing the network.
[4] A Decentralised Exchange on which to trade the valuable colored Bypass tokens.
[5] Decentralised Autonomous Communities (DACs) are critical to the system. The following DACs will be required:
(i) DACs to process and validate user identities (in situations where 1 person = 1 vote).
(ii) DACs to escrow the items which back colored coins.
(iii) DACs to operate open forums of discussion and learning.
(iv) DACs that store and analyze data - such as the data from a real-time continuously updated census of it's community members to facilitate better (optimal?) planning.
(v) DACs which can verify different forms of contribution to the network/community/society by users (and possibly to reward them accordingly if that is deemed to be useful).
These points ensure that there is no barrier for entry for anyone to participate in the Bypass system. This creates an entirely friction-less system. Arguably it means that there is no incentive to secure the network or to even develop the network. Admittedly there may be no obvious direct gain, but tell that to the people who support the countless distributed computing projects (BOINC, GIMPS, F@H etc.) and to the countless people who develop important open-source software and hardware projects (Mozilla Firefox, Linux etc.).
TODO:[1] Engage with the community here to discuss the technological feasibility of such a system.
[2] Develop a white paper and specification for the system. Again with community input.
[3] Gather a team of developers who are passionate about this project.
[4] Gather a team of marketers, ideally with a knowledge of and interest in politics.
Now please join me in discussing the potential merits that this project has and the challenges that it is likely to face. Ultimately this is an experiment. Please treat it as such.
Let's see if we can't effect real change and Bypass the institutions that have not aged-gracefully and are currently stifling innovation, prosperity and abundance across the globe.
I will keep this original post updated with key points as the discussion develops. (I have slightly rushed the announcement of this project because I saw that this thread required some ideas -
https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=420451.0).
Project Theme Song: Hans Zimmer & Lisa Gerrard, Now We Are Free -
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Owg-NaUoHHo
