Communication is the exchange of information within the moment. Much of our individual humanity is intertwined with others through communication; such is the nature of being in a relational universe. Our ability to communicate with one another is innate and natural, so we recognize access to and agency within communication as an individual birthright and dignity. The establishment of a communications DAO will serve to facilitate our transition toward publicly owned global communications networks. This can occur through direct capture of existing infrastructure or the development of alternatives. Our communication networks and devices must be expanded and made available to all. We invest in the perpetual progress of these systems, and every individual is a stakeholder in our progress. Communication as a human dignity is in direct alignment with the single truth. We seek to proactively develop and expand our shared capacity to change.
A communication DAO might serve to organize our collective advancements and dissemination of communication technologies. Currently, most global communications infrastructure exists in long-entrenched private and state monopolies. These organizations provide services that are necessary and widespread but slow to innovate. In many circumstances, they are rent extractors that prioritize the provision of sub-par services over experimental innovation. The provision of services such as phones and the internet should be a public works project, and some states already provide municipal broadband under the control of local communities. Internet access is especially necessary for the development of the individual actualizer capable of engaging in a lifelong education process. It should therefore be provided at no direct cost so as to reflect our core value of equity. The DAO might consider transitioning the forms of access distribution into public control. This includes older technologies such as phones and cable internet as well as emerging advances such as satellite internet networks. By equipping all with reliable and fast communications technologies, we encourage individual access and group agency.
Consider also the monopolization of device manufacturing, which rests in the hands of a few multinational conglomerates. These organizations have successfully proliferated the spread of devices but do so through methods that create unnecessary waste—the “upgrade” of devices yearly and discarding that which still works. Much of the journey toward self-actualization in the age of crisis is the evaluation of which forms of progress are ideal and which contribute to driving us further toward crisis. A public works organization might develop and implement corporate modules that expand corporate responsibility for device manufacturing and progress milestones. The communications DAO might serve as an advocate to balance the tradeoffs between progress and waste generation. It may also serve to develop public alternatives to popular virtual communications technologies.
The communications DAO can also serve to develop and distribute secure communications channels and devices outside of state control. Today, the majority inhabit countries where the ruling oligarchy will not hesitate to cut communications in times of dissent. That one group may deny access to communication for the many so that they might preserve personal power is unjust and immoral. It is an act of futility through the lens of the single truth and demonstrates an ego-driven lack of respect toward individual responsibilities to the other as governed by the relational universe. Our ability to communicate with one another is a sacred human dignity and should be removed from the influence and control of the state. The same can be said for the corporation, which often, through the influence of the state, may be pressured to remove information. Any private platform possesses the right to censor its community as they see fit; nothing about our legal notion of free speech denies this. Through this same lens, the DAO may choose to evolve to support advocacy against punitive measures such as solitary confinement, a cruel and torturous practice that serves no purpose other than traumatizing the individual.
Communication as one of the eight dignities conflicts with the beliefs and actions of the fundamentalist groups that support hierarchical religions. By its very nature, communication encourages the development of ideas conflicting with the established norms of the moment, which creates a conflict with static visions of the world. When individuals and groups leverage piety in their efforts to ban knowledge, burn books, and isolate themselves and their youth from ideas of the universe challenging their specific beliefs, they act in extreme cowardice. This is especially accurate when considering the youth of these communities and highlights the prioritization of dominance of the individual over the curation of their powers. The communication DAO might choose to actively combat the spread of anti-communication movements through methods such as infiltration, legislative campaigns focusing on the denial of human rights, or others.
The intention of the eight dignities and their governing organizations is to promote and preserve the dignities of an individual. No group possesses the right to deny another of these dignities. Global public works DAOs serve to maintain, expand, and evolve the collective human time experience. Sometimes this will include fighting against those seeking to maintain their power structures by denying others access and agency. The global communications network should seek to preserve the freedom of dialogue to the highest degree possible with the exception of those seeking to promote and expand the subjugation of others. As we explored in the crisis of information, truth, and trust, those who would leverage the persecution of another for their own personal gain act in extreme misalignment with the single truth and the relational universe. We cannot tolerate groups and cultures that bind their success to the diminishment of others.
As our communications technologies enter the next era of exponential progress, ensuring their rapid spread is necessary. The more effectively we can reduce the friction between individual and group communication, the more we empower ourselves to transform the world. With the crisis on the horizon, embracing communication as a sacred human dignity is a commitment to ensuring our ability to cooperate and collaborate toward transcendence.
