NYC #TechWeek: Tech-Enabled Activism: Solving Collective Action Problems

​​Would you be:

The first to ask an awkward question?
The first to disagree with the Boss?
The first to dissent from the group?
The first to risk their career? 
The first to tell the truth?

Why should you take the risk without knowing if anyone else will support you...or if it will even make a difference?

​​Some of society's trickiest problems seem intractable.  They are impersonal, systemic, and unresponsive to the actions of most individuals – leaving us all feeling increasingly powerless over our destinies.

​​What if it didn’t have to be this way?

​​Drawing from Game Theory and Behavioral Economics concepts, ordinary people CAN rediscover their power to defeat stubborn coordination and collective action problems.

​​The platform being developed to address this challenge is called Spartacus.app. 

​​Spartacus.app uses Assurance Contracts combined with temporary anonymity to enable collective action campaigns that reduce each participant’s risk and cost and maximize their expected value and safety. This helps break the inertia and misaligned incentives responsible for bad equilibria, enabling a shift to a better one.

​​Use cases include:

• ​​ Union organization

• ​​ Whistleblowing

• ​​ Building support for structural reforms inside an institution

• ​​ Political organizing, coalition building, and formation of new caucuses

• ​​ Bootstrapping new associations and organizations

• ​​ Exposing scandals or corruption

• ​​ An organized resistance against bullying, pressure, blackmail, or extortion

• ​​ Revealing the true democratic preferences of a group or community

• ​​ Improving decision-making, information exchange, and resource allocation within bureaucratic systems

​​And many more.

​​This event will include a live demonstration of Spartacus and an open discussion about use cases and applications for real-world problems.

Also, stay tuned to this page to participate in an experiment prior to the meeting!

This event is a part of #TechWeek - a week of events hosted by VCs and startups to bring together the tech ecosystem.