DAO Mycology –– HolOrgs
“‘Holobiont’ refers to an assemblage of different organisms that behave as a unit. Holobionts are the lichen of this world, more than the sum of their parts” – Merlin Sheldrake, Entangled Life
Lichen are the archetypal holobiont –– Algae / Cyanobacteria + Fungi forming a mutualistic relationship
Other fascinating features:
- Some lichen are considered to be among the oldest living organisms
- They may survive complete dehydration, as well as direct exposure to the vacuum of space
- Their growth rate is regular yet extremely slow, about 1 millimeter a year
- Reproduction takes place through vegetative reproduction –– propagation; or the dispersal of diaspores –– a plant dispersal unit consisting of a seed or spore
- “Symbiosis in lichens is so well-balanced that lichens have been considered to be relatively self-contained miniature ecosystems in and of themselves”
Already, the parallels to Distributed Organizing are apparent:
- No “DAO” is unique unto itself: whether relying on the underlying chain or established protocols, these organizations are positive symbiosis
- If the DAO governance mechanism fulfills the Hyperstructure property of Unstoppability, participation continues forever
- It’s common for DAOs to spawn new ones: through Forking / Vampire Attacks –– similar to propagation; or by spawning a SubDAO –– with a parallel focus
- As I cover in Mutualistic Species Prosperity, DeFi is a miniature ecosystem –– A Holostructure: made up of near-Hyperstructures composing as larger than the sum of their parts
Basically, everyone should read Zefram’s 3 year old banger:
DAOmesh: Large-scale collaboration through a network of small DAOs connected by bounties
I’ll have more about this eventually but I just wanted an excuse to talk about Holobionts for now. Cheers <3
“If we only have words that describe neatly bounded autonomous individuals, it is easy to think they actually exist” – Sheldrake