Engage the Speaker Session for “The Tocqueville Option: Social and Technological Decentralization” (AU2021). Original Lecture description below.

This lecture addresses Alexis de Tocqueville’s concerns about individualism and centralization in democratic life, and argues that part of our response to the cultural challenges of today is to build revitalize civil society with new associations and mutual aid societies. It also looks at the possible role that distributed ledger technology/blockchain could play in promoting decentralization.