Chapter 3: The MOSAIC
Read the full chapter in the Unscarcity book.
Chapter 3 addresses governance at scale: how do billions cooperate without central control becoming tyranny, or decentralization becoming chaos? The answer is a federated architecture called the MOSAIC, bound by Five Laws and protected by a Diversity Guard.
Questions Addressed
- How do you build a government strong enough to stop chaos but too weak to become chaos?
- Why do centralized systems (pyramids) and radically decentralized systems (islands) both fail?
- What can software architecture (Data Mesh) teach us about federated governance?
- How can AI serve as referee without becoming ruler?
- How do you prevent emergency powers from becoming permanent dictatorship?
Related Topics
- Commons — Architecture of self-governing communities
- Crossroad Framework — How Commons interface with each other
- Four Living Pillars — The base rules for coordination
- Guiding Axioms — Constitutional principles
- Diversity Guard — Statistical defense against capture
- Diversity Guard Mathematics — The math behind consensus requirements
- Proof of Diversity — Preventing monoculture capture
- AI as Referee, Humans as Conscience — Bounded AI governance
- Goodhart’s Law and AI Governance — Why metrics become problems
- Iron Law of Oligarchy — Failure modes MOSAIC counters
- Emergency Protocol — Crisis powers with mandatory expiration
- Roman Emergency Powers — Historical lessons
- Wikipedia Governance Model — Proof that referee-first models scale
Key Concepts
- MOSAIC — Modular, Autonomous, Interconnected Communities
- Five Laws of Gravity — Non-negotiable principles all Commons must follow
- Diversity Guard — Consensus across demonstrably different groups
- Referee-not-ruler AI — AI that measures and audits but doesn’t decide values
- Boundary Protocol — Process for resolving disputes between Commons
