This is an attempt to share an idea for a movement which could better enable people around the world to improve their condition. I apologize for the length of this post, I’m not a writer and the below is the shortest way I ended up being able to communicate my ideas to you.

Key sections of this post are

• Why is this needed?

• What do we need?

• How do we create a transformer?

  • Principles

  • People

  • Process

    • Phase 1: Create the transformer wedge

    • Phase 2: Expand the wedge downstream

    • Phase 3: Leverage the super-app to push everything in the stack to be minimally extractive

    • Phase 4: Expand Servant foundation DAO into the world of atoms

• Conclusion

Every human should have the ability to leverage their uniqueness to the betterment of themselves and humanity. This is not the case today because most humans are still trying to secure the components of a reasonable standard of living. These components essentially are food, clothing, shelter, healthcare, information and education among others.

The reasons why most humans don’t have access to a reasonable standard of living boils down to two factors. First, lack of access especially in developing countries where the components of a reasonable standard of living are not always available. Second, lack of capital due to which even if the components of a reasonable standard of living are available, some humans cannot afford them.

If we can solve for lack of access and lack of capital for every human then that frees up humans to pursue ideas which can better themselves and humanity.

We need to create a great access creator and capital distributor that can rapidly make an impact. Let’s call this the “Transformer”.

Ideally, what needs to be true of the Transformer?

• It should in itself be something that can be accessed by every human

• It should increasingly enable access to the components of a reasonable standard of living

• It should not be something that requires capital to access, rather it should be something that generates capital for every human

• It should be minimally extractive to ensure that it only consumes the minimal quantity of resources needed to fulfill its purpose

• It should provide leverage to push other institutions to become minimally extractive

At the outset, we need to identify a few core principles which will guide this endeavor. The only principle that is absolutely necessary is one which dictates how additions / changes to the principles (The change principle) are to be made. Every other principle can follow from this.

I propose the change principle to be.

Principle 0 - At least 90% of voters need to vote yes to add a new principle or to modify an existing principle

Other than the above, we should aim to have as few principles as possible to maximize agreement and focus. I propose a few below.

Principle 1 - We aim to maximize access to the components of a reasonable standard of living for all humans

Principle 2 - We aim to provide the capital needed to enable all humans to obtain the access outlined in Principle 1

Principle 3 - We aim to be as minimally extractive as possible while pursuing Principle 1 and 2

Principle 4 - We aim to push all other institutions which gate access or capital to humans to maximize access and be minimally extractive as well

The people who take up this movement must at all times be guided by the principles above. Additionally, any human in the world should be able to join in with this movement. The best organizational form available to us which can have global reach and be open to all is a DAO.

I propose the setting up of a DAO called “Servant foundation” to bring this movement to life.

Phase 1: Create the Transformer wedge

Phase 1 is necessarily limited in terms of the impact it can have on making progress toward our principles. But, it aims to create a wedge which has a meaningful impact on a sub-segment of humans and provides optionality to expand out from there.

The wedge cannot be in the world of atoms as there cost, distribution and adoption barriers. Hence, the wedge needs to be in the world of bits which offers zero marginal cost distribution.

In the world of bits, the largest access creators have been the huge digital platforms of Google, Facebook, Apple etc. But, along with creating access these platforms have also tended to be massively extractive.

Could we create a digital platform as a wedge which maximizes access while also being minimally extractive? Now, where in the world of bits is it possible to create a wedge?

• The wedge needs to be available on mobile, as that is the most common interface through which humans access the internet

• Within the mobile stack, a phone operating system would be a difficult wedge to create due to the domination of Apple and Google

• The next level up the stack would be an app.

I propose the creation of an app which would function as the Transformer wedge. This app would need to provide a utility which is universal. Based, on the most popular categories of apps in the world, this would likely mean creating a chat app.

A chat app can instantly be used by all mobile users globally. But, how do we incentivize adoption of this app? We can create an app using blockchain technology where the fees paid by advertisers to reach users can be distributed to the users themselves. This way we are using attention, which is something that every human in the world can provide to give them the utility of communication via chat and also to return to them the capital raised from selling their attention. A small portion of the fees from advertisers would be given to the foundation to support the growth of the movement.

Over time, we can also use the fees generated from advertising to zero-rate the app from a data usage standpoint. This would mean paying telco’s to not charge users for data used by the app which would enable the app to be accessed by anyone who has a mobile phone connected to the internet.

Once the chat app is on the way to being used by the majority of humans, we have our Transformer wedge in place.

Phase 2: Expand the wedge downstream

In this phase, we convert the chat app into a super-app like WeChat. Here, chat just becomes a sub-app which provides one of the many functionalities provided by the app. We then progressively invite other entrepreneurs who share our vision to provide minimally-extractive platforms via sub-apps.

Some sub-apps that would make sense at this stage are

• Identity marketplace - A sub-app where users can register their identity and control its use. Companies can then pay users on a per-use basis to read their identity data

• Information marketplace - A sub-app where reputation based creators and curators can provide access to news and information

• Social media - A sub-app where users can form their own communities and stay connected with the people they want to

• Finance marketplace - A sub-app which provides payments, savings, loans etc. similar to Ant Financial in China or Paytm in India

• Healthcare marketplace - A sub-app which provides basic telehealth for free or for very low cost and provides access to health insurance and medical service providers

• Education marketplace - A sub-app which provides basic education for free (like Khan academy)

• Job marketplace - A sub-app where people can find all types of work, full-time or part-time regardless of where they live

Other than this, the super-app should open up and act as an app-store where entrepreneurs can submit their sub-apps for listing. Once the Servant foundation DAO vets the apps to ensure that they have transparent financials (i.e. blockchain treasuries) and are minimally extractive they are onboarded on to the super-app.

Phase 3: Leverage the super-app to push everything in the stack to be minimally extractive

At this point, the super app is already the most powerful component of the stack. Here, the super app can push other downstream apps to ensure that they are minimally extractive or limiting their ability to access users via the super app.

More interestingly, now the super-app can push upstream to ensure the mobile OS providers become minimally extractive or by incentivizing the creation and adoption of a new mobile OS which is minimally extractive.

Taking this thought forward, the super-app could also push phone manufacturers and even internet providers to become minimally extractive.

Phase 4: Expand Servant foundation DAO into the world of atoms

Given the reach and scope of Servant foundation DAO at this point, it could also make a reasonable impact on other huge global institutions like corporates and governments. The aim would be the same as always, to push all institutions which impact humanity to expand access while being minimally extractive.

Centuries of technological advancement has given humanity the tools to create an environment to enable every human to have access to a life where they can better themselves and each other. But, lack of access to the components which constitute a reasonable standard of living or a lack of capital to afford these components are holding back billions of humans.

I propose the creation of Servant foundation DAO whose objective would be to solve for this lack of access and lack of capital for all humans. We would start with a chat app which returns advertiser dollars to its users, expand from there to create a super app which provides access to the basic components of a reasonable standard of living and eventually become a marketplace which incentivizes creation of minimally extractive marketplaces which further improve access to goods, service and capital for all humans.

Eventually, Servant foundation DAO would push other institutions whether they be corporate or government to maximize access and minimize extraction. Hopefully, this accelerates the creation of a world where every human can lead their best lives.

If this vision excites you and you’d like to be a part of Servant foundation DAO please reach out to me at a.servant.1 on Twitter or email me at a.servant.1@proton.me.