LA #TechWeek: Tech-Enabled Activism: Solving Coordination Problems with Game Theory and Behavioral Science
Would you be:
The first to blow the whistle?
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 and invest the time and energy without knowing if anyone else will support you?
Some of society's trickiest problems – climate change, corruption, dysfunctional institutions, discrimination, polarization, extremism, groupthink, etc.- seem intractable. They are impersonal, systemic, and indifferent to the actions of any given individual – leaving us all feeling increasingly powerless over our destinies, individually and collectively.
What if it didn’t have to be this way?
Drawing from novel 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. It’s currently in an MVP stage of development, ready for user testing, pilots, and use-case validation for real-world problems.
Spartacus.app uses a concept called Assurance Contracts combined with conditional anonymity to enable collective action campaigns that reduce each participant’s personal risk and cost and maximizes their expected value and safety. Doing so helps break the inertia and misaligned incentives responsible for why so many things feel "stuck."
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.
There are certainly risks and difficulties in developing a tool like this, such that vigorous feedback and critique is welcomed and needed to refine its features and create safeguards against abuse.
This event will provide a live demonstration of how it works 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.