Future Web
Introduction
Although blockchain technology, NFTs (non-fungible tokens), and cryptocurrencies have been around since the mid-2010s, they have not burst into the public consciousness and buzzwords until 2021, when Facebook rebranded to Meta and declared the company’s commitment to developing a metaverse (Zuckerberg, 2021). Among several existing or under-developing versions of metaverse, Joel Dietz’s concept of creating a “holonic system” (2022) that reimagines a new social mechanism in which people could have synergistic interactions with each other and consciously form transparent and automated social organisms (Hellyer, 2021) attracted my interest the most. As the crypto currency entrepreneur, founder of Ethereum, and CEO of Metametaverse, Joel has elaborated on this vision in his monograph, Principles of Holonic System Design (2022). However, after examining the gap between the author's blueprint for establishing a decentralized society and its current or anticipated implementation, I believe that decentralization can be considered at best as magic at this point. By presenting my critical thinking on the three key elements of the new model—decentralized governance, decentralized technology, and decentralized finance, this essay aims to demystify the concept of “decentralization” backed by the aforementioned technologies, to demonstrate how their magic could shape our present and future, and to provoke thoughts about the roles of designers in this wave of technological trends.
Holonic System
The term “holon” was coined by Arthur Koestler who used it to describe natural organisms as composed of semi-autonomous sub-wholes (or, parts) that are linked in a form of hierarchy, a holarchy, to form a whole (1967). The concept implies that the entire "machine" of life and the universe is constantly evolving toward more complex states, as if operated by a ghost (Mella, 2009).
Joel’s vision of creating a holonic system is derived from this concept. He outlines in his book how holonic principles can be applied to politics, organizational governance, financial systems, as well as the personal realm, with the goal of optimizing society’s organizations from the bottom up with minimal barriers and friction in each network (Dietz, 2022).
Critical Review on “Decentralization”
1. Decentralized Governance
In Joel’s model, all major “board-level” decisions are captured in blockchain format and the pools of funds that are determined by these decisions are given to individuals or projects with one or more decision makers and complete autonomy over the pools (Ibid) . And he believes that “distributed governance has the possibility of overriding ‘special interests’ and creating a structure that more perfectly represents collective interests and protects public goods” (Dietz, 2022, P.28). Although the nature of blockchain makes it possible to tokenize things and form a consensus system in which all decisions can be tracked and recorded, and it is indeed more democratic to involve the vast majority in the decision-making process, it is unclear if people who have more voting power that is determined by their “tokens and coins” (Ibid, p.13) are ethically reliable or capable enough to address all sorts of social problems, and if “collective interest” can really protect public goods just because it derives from the summation of individualistic choices. “And yet, we know that this is not necessarily so, as our current experience with air pollution has dramatized” (Stahl, 1995, p.168). Joel also declared that this “network governance allows for open contributions and open rewards, without any preference for large existing stakeholders or other biases based on location or genetics” (2022, p.27). But if Joel's premise that governments are seen as partners in this system (Ibid) holds true, there is no reason for the influence of existing ideologies and geopolitics to disappear, and we need to note that blockchain is a pseudonymous rather than an anonymous technology (Oettler, 2021), meaning that a Russian contributor’s IP address can be traced and located. In this context, who can guarantee that individuals, sub-organizations, or organizations with different ideologies will be free of prejudice?
While such a mechanism would enhance individual autonomy, if the majority's interests do not represent a truly meaningful outcome, if sub-organizational representatives do not distribute resources efficiently and equitably, and if old ideological prejudices are not eliminated, simply distributing and decentralizing governance will not ensure a better future, not to mention how impossible it is for politicians to relinquish their existing power, such as weapons, prior to the adoption of such a process.
2. Decentralized Technologies
Although, a holonic system existing on blockchains and supported by a “delegated voting system” (Dietz, 2022, p.13) appears democratic, voting power is represented by tokens or coins, and “it also appropriately incentivizes the many different types of possible contributions to a network (code, community contributions, funding) and allows both for decision-making capability and rewards” (Ibid). Individuals who earn more coins and create more intelligent codes, in other words, may have a greater say in such a mechanism. What about those who are having difficulty grasping any of these technologies, and this is not due to laziness or unwillingness to contribute? Joel has also admitted that “I’m a geek, I need to work on things that are really interesting to me. And building a language for the future of the metaverse that can map all realities, including parallel realities, I’d say that’s pretty cool” (Pymnts, 2022). In such a case, will history repeat itself that the winners are those who define the “technical culture” and become “experts” upon whom everyone else is dependent (Doniol-shaw, 1989)?
While blockchain and NFT technologies are fundamentally decentralized technologies and capable of ensuring the uniqueness and freedom from centralized regulation of, for example, art works, intellectual property, or even real estate, the infrastructure that underpins these technologies, such as 5G network coverage, is not a task that can be accomplished by a single individual or small-scaled organizations. It is even no longer a task that is carried out on Earth, but has been extended to space by SpaceX. To date, the Elon Musk-owned space company has deployed more than 2,000 Starlink satellites into Earth orbit (Foust, 2022). Besides the 5G network, to blend the physical world and the virtual one, the holonic system may not be free of technologies like low-latency information delivery, high-quality rendering, AR/VR, and artificial intelligence, all of which have caught the interest of major tech giants: Meta partnered with Verizon to develop intensive XR cloud rendering and low-latency streaming (Alleven, 2022), ByteDance partnered with Qualcomm to create a global XR ecosystem(Hayden, 2022), and even Joel's project MetaMetaverse received $2 million in a seed round led by Polygon Studios, DAO Maker, and Ghaf Capital in December 2021 ( Pymnts, 2022).
In this sense, even though the technologies themselves are decentralized by nature, they are far from decentralized in practice, mainly because the companies accountable to their shareholders do not invest just for social benefits. On the other hand, it is very likely that they are not only ahead of the game, but also the rule designers, again.
3. Decentralized Finance
Concerning how information and innovation can be funded, supported, and freely circulated in a distributed network, Joel believes that “cryptocurrencies are the functional building blocks of this new model” (2022, p.32), and he thinks highly of Bitcoin as it is “finally possible to build a massive, distributed peer-to-peer network outside the normal regulatory walls built by the big banks” (Ibid, p.21). The core concept of his proposal is quite similar to the popular notion of DeFi (decentralized finance), which believes that anyone with an internet connection and a digital wallet can access the system without the consent of banks or other institutions, and funds can be transferred in seconds (Sharma, 2022).
In this regard, I am a supporter of this decentralized approach to finance if the holonic system becomes true, and I am particularly intrigued by the potential improvements that cryptocurrencies could bring to venture capital. First of all, what Joel opposed is true: many small start-ups and their innovations can be removed from the traditional VC formula that typically involves angel financing, a seed round, venture funding, and finally an IPO, in addition to a lot of time spent on rounds of discussions and due diligence checks (Ibid). Moreover, Joel’s proposal to let the same crowd be the investor, user, customer, and advocate for products (Ibid) sounds quite doable. Indeed, why don’t we allow coffee lovers to invest in a new coffee shop with a business idea that they like and then get a free cup of coffee once a week as dividends? Since there is no restriction on the number of tokens that can be purchased, and they can be immediately available, there is a benefit for both businesses and individual investors. As a result, “this naturally accelerates innovation” (Ibid, p.36).
However, true DeFi appears to be difficult to achieve for three reasons. First, financial institutions will not forgo their primary source of revenue. For example, China's central bank launched its digital wallet app "e-CNY" earlier this year on Android and iOS app stores, indicating that the central bank-backed digital currency is already circulating as "cash" in the market. This, combined with the fact that crypto was banned by the government (Quiroz-Gutierrez, 2022), suggests that China will most likely not participate in the future global decentralized system. And it is “only one of dozens of countries and jurisdictions that have either banned cryptocurrencies outright or severely restricted them over the past few years” (Ibid). Second, DeFi's borderless transaction capability raises critical regulatory issues. For instance, who is accountable for financial crimes committed across borders, protocols, and DeFi apps? Who would be responsible for enforcing the regulations, and how would they be enforced? On May 20, 2021, the United States Department of the Treasury announced a proposal that would require taxpayers to report to the IRS any cryptocurrency transaction valued at or exceeding $10,000 (U.S. Department of the Treasury, 2021), but will such regulations enacted by the government ultimately alter the original purpose of DeFi? Third, the ownership of the cryptocurrency is not as decentralized as expected. According to an MIT study, cryptocurrency ownership is not decentralized, but rather, highly concentrated, with 11,000 investors holding nearly 45 percent of Bitcoin's surging value (Makerov and Scholar, 2021).
“Decentralization” or Magic
We can say that blockchain, NFT, cryptocurrency, and other technologies that underpin the holonic system or several versions of the metaverse are decentralized, whereas forging a decentralized society solely on the basis of innovative technologies is, at the moment, more of magic trick some experts and businessmen cast upon outsiders to promote their private vision of goodness. From this point of view, “decentralization” can be considered as a stabilized discourse “to the advantage of those who are best able to appropriate the new technologies” (Stahl, 1995, p. 254) and “can enlarge technological frames by bringing more groups into the discussion” (Ibid, p. 238).
As for who controls the magic, they can be experts who possess knowledge “which other people, the non-expert, cannot master” (Adorno 1974, p.78) or entrepreneurs who have power and charisma (Stahl, 1995) to sway public opinion and affect government. While Joel Dietz may not in the league in this regard, Mark Zuckerberg and Elon Musk are no doubt the key influencers who “can send the price of bitcoin — as well as dogecoin — up and down with fewer than 280 characters” (Molla, 2021) on Twitter.
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What’s more, Joel draws on Catholicism to prove that the “inspiration we need in dark times doesn’t come from the material that we can see and measure, but from the dreams of something better and more magnificent that we cannot see…” (2022, p.38) and believes the holonic system is probably the best hope we have at the moment (Ibid). Perhaps, in the midst of Covid-19, economic recession, and war, technology is similar to magic, declaring “hope in the face of fear and powerlessness” (Ibid, p.253).
In other words, “decentralization” can be thought of as a stabilized concept for “magicians” to inspire hope in the vast majority of people who lack knowledge of cutting-edge technologies.
Conclusion
It's hard to deny that blockchain, NFT, cyptocurrency, and smart contracts enable us to be free of the control of large corporations, governments and institutions, but in terms of building a decentralized society based on these technologies, the paradoxes are many. Therefore, I believe, as designers, we need to stay alert about this tech boom and be skeptical about using technologies as the first resort for the problems that existing mechanisms have failed to solve.
Bibliography
Adorno, T. W. (1974) ‘The stars down to Earth: The Los Angeles Times astrology column’. Télos, 19, pp. 13-90. Zuckerberg, M. (2021) Founder’s Letter, 2021. Available at: https://about.fb.com/news/2021/10/founders-letter/ (Accessed: March 2022).
Alleven, M. (2022) Verizon, Meta strike deal to explore 5G metaverse. Available at: https://www.fiercewireless.com/wireless/verizon-meta-strike-deal-explore-5g-metaverse (Accessed: April, 2022).
Dietz, J. (2022) Principles of Holonic System Design. Available at: https://www.academia.edu/43042457/Joel_Dietz_Principles_of_Holonic_System_Design (Accessed: April 2022).
Doniol-Shaw, G. (1989) Technical culture, training and female employment. In Women, work and computerization: Forming new alliances. Edited by K. Tijdens, M. Jennings, I. Wagner, and M. Waggelar. Amsterdam: North-Holland.
Foust, J. (2022) SpaceX passes 2,000 Starlink satellites launched. Available at: https://spacenews.com/spacex-passes-2000-starlink-satellites-launched/ (Accessed: April, 2022).
Hayden, S. (2022) TikTok Parent ByteDance Partners with Qualcomm on XR Hardware and Software. Available at: https://www.roadtovr.com/qualcomm-tiktok-bytedance-vr-partnership/ (Accessed: April, 2022).
Hellyer, F. (2021) Joel Dietz [Podcast]. 29 October. Available at: https://www.metaverse.fm/joel-dietz/. (Accessed: March 2022).
Koestler, A. (1967) The Ghost in the Machine. New York: Penguin Press.
Makarove, I. and Schoar, A. (2021) Blockchain Analysis of the Bitcoin Market. Available at: https://www.nber.org/system/files/working_papers/w29396/w29396.pdf (Accessed: April, 2022).
Mella, P. (2009) The Holonic Revolution Holons, Holarchies and Holonic Networks: The Ghost in the Production Machine. Pavia: University Press.
Molla, R. (2021) When Elon Musk tweets, crypto prices move. Available at: https://www.vox.com/recode/2021/5/18/22441831/elon-musk-bitcoin-dogecoin-crypto-prices-tesla (Accessed: April, 2022).
Oettler, M. (2021) Anonymity vs Pseudonymity. Available at: https://blockchain-academy.hs-mittweida.de/courses/blockchain-introduction-technical-beginner-to-intermediate/lessons/lesson-4-privacy-in-blockchain-2/topic/anonymity-vs-pseudonymity/ (Accessed: April 2022).
Pymnts (2022) Crypto Pioneer Joel Dietz Creating Interoperable Metaverse. Available at: https://www.pymnts.com/metaverse/2022/crypto-pioneer-joel-dietz-creating-interoperable-metaverse/ (Accessed: April, 2022).
Quiroz-Gutierrez, M. (2022) Crypto is fully banned in China and 8 other countries. Available at: https://fortune.com/2022/01/04/crypto-banned-china-other-countries/ (Accessed: April, 2022).
Sharma, R. (2022) Decentralized Finance (DeFi) Definition. Available at: https://www.investopedia.com/decentralized-finance-defi-5113835 (Accessed: April, 2022).
Stahl, W. A. (1995) ‘Venerating the Black Box: Magic in Media Discourse on Technology’, Science, Technology, & Human Values, 20(2), pp. 234-258.
U.S. Department of the Treasury. (2021) The American Families Plan Tax Compliance Agenda. Available at: https://home.treasury.gov/system/files/136/The-American-Families-Plan-Tax-Compliance-Agenda.pdf. (Accessed: April, 2022).
Figure
Figure 1. Tweet of Elon Musk on Tesla & Bitcoin (2021) Available at: https://www.vox.com/recode/2021/5/18/22441831/elon-musk-bitcoin-dogecoin-crypto-prices-tesla (Accessed: April, 2022).
Although blockchain technology, NFTs (non-fungible tokens), and cryptocurrencies have been around since the mid-2010s, they have not burst into the public consciousness and buzzwords until 2021, when Facebook rebranded to Meta and declared the company’s commitment to developing a metaverse (Zuckerberg, 2021). Among several existing or under-developing versions of metaverse, Joel Dietz’s concept of creating a “holonic system” (2022) that reimagines a new social mechanism in which people could have synergistic interactions with each other and consciously form transparent and automated social organisms (Hellyer, 2021) attracted my interest the most. As the crypto currency entrepreneur, founder of Ethereum, and CEO of Metametaverse, Joel has elaborated on this vision in his monograph, Principles of Holonic System Design (2022). However, after examining the gap between the author's blueprint for establishing a decentralized society and its current or anticipated implementation, I believe that decentralization can be considered at best as magic at this point. By presenting my critical thinking on the three key elements of the new model—decentralized governance, decentralized technology, and decentralized finance, this essay aims to demystify the concept of “decentralization” backed by the aforementioned technologies, to demonstrate how their magic could shape our present and future, and to provoke thoughts about the roles of designers in this wave of technological trends.
Holonic System
The term “holon” was coined by Arthur Koestler who used it to describe natural organisms as composed of semi-autonomous sub-wholes (or, parts) that are linked in a form of hierarchy, a holarchy, to form a whole (1967). The concept implies that the entire "machine" of life and the universe is constantly evolving toward more complex states, as if operated by a ghost (Mella, 2009).
Joel’s vision of creating a holonic system is derived from this concept. He outlines in his book how holonic principles can be applied to politics, organizational governance, financial systems, as well as the personal realm, with the goal of optimizing society’s organizations from the bottom up with minimal barriers and friction in each network (Dietz, 2022).
Critical Review on “Decentralization”
1. Decentralized Governance
In Joel’s model, all major “board-level” decisions are captured in blockchain format and the pools of funds that are determined by these decisions are given to individuals or projects with one or more decision makers and complete autonomy over the pools (Ibid) . And he believes that “distributed governance has the possibility of overriding ‘special interests’ and creating a structure that more perfectly represents collective interests and protects public goods” (Dietz, 2022, P.28). Although the nature of blockchain makes it possible to tokenize things and form a consensus system in which all decisions can be tracked and recorded, and it is indeed more democratic to involve the vast majority in the decision-making process, it is unclear if people who have more voting power that is determined by their “tokens and coins” (Ibid, p.13) are ethically reliable or capable enough to address all sorts of social problems, and if “collective interest” can really protect public goods just because it derives from the summation of individualistic choices. “And yet, we know that this is not necessarily so, as our current experience with air pollution has dramatized” (Stahl, 1995, p.168). Joel also declared that this “network governance allows for open contributions and open rewards, without any preference for large existing stakeholders or other biases based on location or genetics” (2022, p.27). But if Joel's premise that governments are seen as partners in this system (Ibid) holds true, there is no reason for the influence of existing ideologies and geopolitics to disappear, and we need to note that blockchain is a pseudonymous rather than an anonymous technology (Oettler, 2021), meaning that a Russian contributor’s IP address can be traced and located. In this context, who can guarantee that individuals, sub-organizations, or organizations with different ideologies will be free of prejudice?
While such a mechanism would enhance individual autonomy, if the majority's interests do not represent a truly meaningful outcome, if sub-organizational representatives do not distribute resources efficiently and equitably, and if old ideological prejudices are not eliminated, simply distributing and decentralizing governance will not ensure a better future, not to mention how impossible it is for politicians to relinquish their existing power, such as weapons, prior to the adoption of such a process.
2. Decentralized Technologies
Although, a holonic system existing on blockchains and supported by a “delegated voting system” (Dietz, 2022, p.13) appears democratic, voting power is represented by tokens or coins, and “it also appropriately incentivizes the many different types of possible contributions to a network (code, community contributions, funding) and allows both for decision-making capability and rewards” (Ibid). Individuals who earn more coins and create more intelligent codes, in other words, may have a greater say in such a mechanism. What about those who are having difficulty grasping any of these technologies, and this is not due to laziness or unwillingness to contribute? Joel has also admitted that “I’m a geek, I need to work on things that are really interesting to me. And building a language for the future of the metaverse that can map all realities, including parallel realities, I’d say that’s pretty cool” (Pymnts, 2022). In such a case, will history repeat itself that the winners are those who define the “technical culture” and become “experts” upon whom everyone else is dependent (Doniol-shaw, 1989)?
While blockchain and NFT technologies are fundamentally decentralized technologies and capable of ensuring the uniqueness and freedom from centralized regulation of, for example, art works, intellectual property, or even real estate, the infrastructure that underpins these technologies, such as 5G network coverage, is not a task that can be accomplished by a single individual or small-scaled organizations. It is even no longer a task that is carried out on Earth, but has been extended to space by SpaceX. To date, the Elon Musk-owned space company has deployed more than 2,000 Starlink satellites into Earth orbit (Foust, 2022). Besides the 5G network, to blend the physical world and the virtual one, the holonic system may not be free of technologies like low-latency information delivery, high-quality rendering, AR/VR, and artificial intelligence, all of which have caught the interest of major tech giants: Meta partnered with Verizon to develop intensive XR cloud rendering and low-latency streaming (Alleven, 2022), ByteDance partnered with Qualcomm to create a global XR ecosystem(Hayden, 2022), and even Joel's project MetaMetaverse received $2 million in a seed round led by Polygon Studios, DAO Maker, and Ghaf Capital in December 2021 ( Pymnts, 2022).
In this sense, even though the technologies themselves are decentralized by nature, they are far from decentralized in practice, mainly because the companies accountable to their shareholders do not invest just for social benefits. On the other hand, it is very likely that they are not only ahead of the game, but also the rule designers, again.
3. Decentralized Finance
Concerning how information and innovation can be funded, supported, and freely circulated in a distributed network, Joel believes that “cryptocurrencies are the functional building blocks of this new model” (2022, p.32), and he thinks highly of Bitcoin as it is “finally possible to build a massive, distributed peer-to-peer network outside the normal regulatory walls built by the big banks” (Ibid, p.21). The core concept of his proposal is quite similar to the popular notion of DeFi (decentralized finance), which believes that anyone with an internet connection and a digital wallet can access the system without the consent of banks or other institutions, and funds can be transferred in seconds (Sharma, 2022).
In this regard, I am a supporter of this decentralized approach to finance if the holonic system becomes true, and I am particularly intrigued by the potential improvements that cryptocurrencies could bring to venture capital. First of all, what Joel opposed is true: many small start-ups and their innovations can be removed from the traditional VC formula that typically involves angel financing, a seed round, venture funding, and finally an IPO, in addition to a lot of time spent on rounds of discussions and due diligence checks (Ibid). Moreover, Joel’s proposal to let the same crowd be the investor, user, customer, and advocate for products (Ibid) sounds quite doable. Indeed, why don’t we allow coffee lovers to invest in a new coffee shop with a business idea that they like and then get a free cup of coffee once a week as dividends? Since there is no restriction on the number of tokens that can be purchased, and they can be immediately available, there is a benefit for both businesses and individual investors. As a result, “this naturally accelerates innovation” (Ibid, p.36).
However, true DeFi appears to be difficult to achieve for three reasons. First, financial institutions will not forgo their primary source of revenue. For example, China's central bank launched its digital wallet app "e-CNY" earlier this year on Android and iOS app stores, indicating that the central bank-backed digital currency is already circulating as "cash" in the market. This, combined with the fact that crypto was banned by the government (Quiroz-Gutierrez, 2022), suggests that China will most likely not participate in the future global decentralized system. And it is “only one of dozens of countries and jurisdictions that have either banned cryptocurrencies outright or severely restricted them over the past few years” (Ibid). Second, DeFi's borderless transaction capability raises critical regulatory issues. For instance, who is accountable for financial crimes committed across borders, protocols, and DeFi apps? Who would be responsible for enforcing the regulations, and how would they be enforced? On May 20, 2021, the United States Department of the Treasury announced a proposal that would require taxpayers to report to the IRS any cryptocurrency transaction valued at or exceeding $10,000 (U.S. Department of the Treasury, 2021), but will such regulations enacted by the government ultimately alter the original purpose of DeFi? Third, the ownership of the cryptocurrency is not as decentralized as expected. According to an MIT study, cryptocurrency ownership is not decentralized, but rather, highly concentrated, with 11,000 investors holding nearly 45 percent of Bitcoin's surging value (Makerov and Scholar, 2021).
“Decentralization” or Magic
We can say that blockchain, NFT, cryptocurrency, and other technologies that underpin the holonic system or several versions of the metaverse are decentralized, whereas forging a decentralized society solely on the basis of innovative technologies is, at the moment, more of magic trick some experts and businessmen cast upon outsiders to promote their private vision of goodness. From this point of view, “decentralization” can be considered as a stabilized discourse “to the advantage of those who are best able to appropriate the new technologies” (Stahl, 1995, p. 254) and “can enlarge technological frames by bringing more groups into the discussion” (Ibid, p. 238).
As for who controls the magic, they can be experts who possess knowledge “which other people, the non-expert, cannot master” (Adorno 1974, p.78) or entrepreneurs who have power and charisma (Stahl, 1995) to sway public opinion and affect government. While Joel Dietz may not in the league in this regard, Mark Zuckerberg and Elon Musk are no doubt the key influencers who “can send the price of bitcoin — as well as dogecoin — up and down with fewer than 280 characters” (Molla, 2021) on Twitter.
Fig 1. Tweet of Elon Musk on Tesla & Bitcoin
What’s more, Joel draws on Catholicism to prove that the “inspiration we need in dark times doesn’t come from the material that we can see and measure, but from the dreams of something better and more magnificent that we cannot see…” (2022, p.38) and believes the holonic system is probably the best hope we have at the moment (Ibid). Perhaps, in the midst of Covid-19, economic recession, and war, technology is similar to magic, declaring “hope in the face of fear and powerlessness” (Ibid, p.253).
In other words, “decentralization” can be thought of as a stabilized concept for “magicians” to inspire hope in the vast majority of people who lack knowledge of cutting-edge technologies.
Conclusion
It's hard to deny that blockchain, NFT, cyptocurrency, and smart contracts enable us to be free of the control of large corporations, governments and institutions, but in terms of building a decentralized society based on these technologies, the paradoxes are many. Therefore, I believe, as designers, we need to stay alert about this tech boom and be skeptical about using technologies as the first resort for the problems that existing mechanisms have failed to solve.
Bibliography
Adorno, T. W. (1974) ‘The stars down to Earth: The Los Angeles Times astrology column’. Télos, 19, pp. 13-90. Zuckerberg, M. (2021) Founder’s Letter, 2021. Available at: https://about.fb.com/news/2021/10/founders-letter/ (Accessed: March 2022).
Alleven, M. (2022) Verizon, Meta strike deal to explore 5G metaverse. Available at: https://www.fiercewireless.com/wireless/verizon-meta-strike-deal-explore-5g-metaverse (Accessed: April, 2022).
Dietz, J. (2022) Principles of Holonic System Design. Available at: https://www.academia.edu/43042457/Joel_Dietz_Principles_of_Holonic_System_Design (Accessed: April 2022).
Doniol-Shaw, G. (1989) Technical culture, training and female employment. In Women, work and computerization: Forming new alliances. Edited by K. Tijdens, M. Jennings, I. Wagner, and M. Waggelar. Amsterdam: North-Holland.
Foust, J. (2022) SpaceX passes 2,000 Starlink satellites launched. Available at: https://spacenews.com/spacex-passes-2000-starlink-satellites-launched/ (Accessed: April, 2022).
Hayden, S. (2022) TikTok Parent ByteDance Partners with Qualcomm on XR Hardware and Software. Available at: https://www.roadtovr.com/qualcomm-tiktok-bytedance-vr-partnership/ (Accessed: April, 2022).
Hellyer, F. (2021) Joel Dietz [Podcast]. 29 October. Available at: https://www.metaverse.fm/joel-dietz/. (Accessed: March 2022).
Koestler, A. (1967) The Ghost in the Machine. New York: Penguin Press.
Makarove, I. and Schoar, A. (2021) Blockchain Analysis of the Bitcoin Market. Available at: https://www.nber.org/system/files/working_papers/w29396/w29396.pdf (Accessed: April, 2022).
Mella, P. (2009) The Holonic Revolution Holons, Holarchies and Holonic Networks: The Ghost in the Production Machine. Pavia: University Press.
Molla, R. (2021) When Elon Musk tweets, crypto prices move. Available at: https://www.vox.com/recode/2021/5/18/22441831/elon-musk-bitcoin-dogecoin-crypto-prices-tesla (Accessed: April, 2022).
Oettler, M. (2021) Anonymity vs Pseudonymity. Available at: https://blockchain-academy.hs-mittweida.de/courses/blockchain-introduction-technical-beginner-to-intermediate/lessons/lesson-4-privacy-in-blockchain-2/topic/anonymity-vs-pseudonymity/ (Accessed: April 2022).
Pymnts (2022) Crypto Pioneer Joel Dietz Creating Interoperable Metaverse. Available at: https://www.pymnts.com/metaverse/2022/crypto-pioneer-joel-dietz-creating-interoperable-metaverse/ (Accessed: April, 2022).
Quiroz-Gutierrez, M. (2022) Crypto is fully banned in China and 8 other countries. Available at: https://fortune.com/2022/01/04/crypto-banned-china-other-countries/ (Accessed: April, 2022).
Sharma, R. (2022) Decentralized Finance (DeFi) Definition. Available at: https://www.investopedia.com/decentralized-finance-defi-5113835 (Accessed: April, 2022).
Stahl, W. A. (1995) ‘Venerating the Black Box: Magic in Media Discourse on Technology’, Science, Technology, & Human Values, 20(2), pp. 234-258.
U.S. Department of the Treasury. (2021) The American Families Plan Tax Compliance Agenda. Available at: https://home.treasury.gov/system/files/136/The-American-Families-Plan-Tax-Compliance-Agenda.pdf. (Accessed: April, 2022).
Figure
Figure 1. Tweet of Elon Musk on Tesla & Bitcoin (2021) Available at: https://www.vox.com/recode/2021/5/18/22441831/elon-musk-bitcoin-dogecoin-crypto-prices-tesla (Accessed: April, 2022).
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