Metcalfe's law does not apply to commoning

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planted: 29/12/2021last tended: 29/12/2021

Flancian asked:

commoning probably scales with Metcalfe's law, as it's a social activity?

I replied:

  • Re: Metcalfe's law - hmm interesting. I feel like commoning tends to prefer federation. So keeping groups small in a sense, but then connecting these smaller groups. Commoning maybe works best scaling out rather than scaling up.
  • E.g. Rely on Heterarchy and Rely on Distributed Structures patterns
  • I almost feel like the larger an individual commons gets, the more it tends towards tragedy. Or at least the governance system has to get much more robust.
  • Might be wrong there though.

1. Epistemic status

Type
notion
Confidence
2
Gut feeling
5

Not too sure about this. Just a hunch. But feels worth exploring. It generally fits with my values of small things federating.

2. Elsewhere

2.1. In my garden

Notes that link to this note (AKA backlinks).

2.3. Mentions

Recent changes. Source. Peer Production License.