Since 1787 when the Constitution was written, there has not been as much drama about a single document.

A Sotheby’s auction Thursday night saw a gaggle of private collectors square off against a blockchain-based gang of 18,000 crypto-fans. All of them wanted to buy one of 13 remaining original drafts the U.S. Constitution. This was one of two drafts that were not secured as a part of a collection.

This investor group was called the ConstitutionDAO (decentralized autonomous organization). DAOs can be built on blockchains and are controlled by an automated program of computer programming that eliminates emotion and corruptibility from human decision-making. However, the DAO members also invest in the system to earn “governance tokens” that empower those vested members the right to contribute to the gestalt via crowdsourcing.

The ConstitutionDAO was able to raise $40 million in a matter of weeks to achieve its goal of buying its own first edition of the Constitution, but that wasn’t enough to seal the deal. The ConstitutionDAO digital vault is assumed to still hold the combined funds, even though the DAO has lost the auction. It’s not clear how or if those funds will be allocated back to the donors.

Flipside

• This was a powerful display of solidarity around one vision. However, this raises questions about whether such a construct can be misused for evil.
• Are terrorist states and splinter groups able to band together for weapons of mass destruction (deadly biologics)?
• These could be unintended side effects of a technology that is otherwise simple.

What are the reasons to care?

DAOs can be programed to serve a mob mentality as well as an altruistic charity. This aspect is something we all need to pay close attention.

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