The Unenclosable Promise
In a world that's increasingly interconnected yet paradoxically fragmented, the concept of a promise takes on profound significance. A promise is a fundamental unit of social cohesion, a basic building block of trust. But what if a promise could be as resilient, as universal, as the laws of physics or the language of mathematics? What if a promise could be unenclosable?
The Unenclosable Message and Promise Theory
Mark Burgess's Promise Theory (please read) elegantly frames promises as autonomous agents that interact based on intent and consent. Similarly, the concept of an unenclosable message, championed by Eric Harris-Braun and Art Brock in their work at Holochain, is a message that retains its integrity regardless of the medium through which it's communicated. Imagine combining these two powerful ideas into an "unenclosable promise"—a promise that is medium-agnostic, verifiable, non-proprietary, universal, and immutable.
What Makes a Promise? (Ontology)
Intent: At the core of any promise, intent signifies what the promiser aims to achieve—this is their offering.
Medium-Agnostic: In an unenclosable promise, this intent is universally understandable and can be communicated through any medium without loss of integrity.
Capability: This refers to the ability of the promiser to fulfill the promise. An unenclosable promise could be strengthened by verifiable proof of capability, whether it's a cryptographic attestation or a universally recognized symbol.
Beneficiary (Promisee): The agent to whom the promise is made. In the case of an unenclosable promise, the beneficiary could be anyone, anywhere, thanks to the promise's universal nature.
Duration: The time frame within which the promise will be kept (this may include expiration).
Immutability: An unenclosable promise is immutable, meaning that once made, it cannot be altered or destroyed without leaving a trace.
Preconditions: These are the conditions that must be met for the promise to be valid. For an unenclosable promise, these preconditions would be minimal and universally understandable, making the promise as inclusive as possible.
Validation: The means by which the promise is confirmed to have been kept or broken. In an unenclosable promise, this validation is built into the promise itself, making it self-verifying. External validation can be found through scalable consensus layers (see below).
Dependencies: These are other promises or conditions that the original promise depends on. An unenclosable promise would aim to minimize dependencies to maintain its universal and non-proprietary nature.
Scalability: While not a traditional component in Promise Theory, scalability is crucial for unenclosable promises. It refers to how the promise can be validated at different layers of consensus, from personal to global.
Non-proprietary: While the promise bearer may be given rights specified and the issuer responsibilities, the promise, once issued, isn't owned or controlled by any single entity, making it resistant to censorship or alteration.
Universal: The promise is understandable and recognizable across different cultures, languages, or systems.
Pooling Promises and Peering: Mutual Aid
The transformative power of an unenclosable promise becomes even more potent when we consider the possibilities of pooling these promises in the form of vouchers and engaging in peering as a form of mutual aid.
Pooling Promises: Imagine a community where each member's promise is represented by a voucher. These vouchers can be pooled together to create a collective fund of promises, exchangeable and redeemable for real goods and services. This is mutual aid in its purest form, a communal safety net woven from the threads of individual commitments.
Peering: In a decentralized network like Holochain, peering allows for a more dynamic, responsive form of mutual aid. Each node in the network can act both as a provider and a recipient of promises, creating a web of interdependence that is both robust and flexible.
Scalable Consensus Layers: From Personal to Global
The beauty of an unenclosable promise is that it starts at the most basic level—between two people, the issuer and the recipient. But it doesn't stop there. Through scalable consensus layers, this promise can be validated and accepted by a community, a nation, or even the world.
Personal Layer: The promise is initially made between two individuals. It's a peer-to-peer exchange, validated by the mutual trust and consent of both parties.
Community Layer: As more people become aware of the promise, it gains communal validation. This could be through oral agreements, tally sticks, or even digital ledgers.
Global Layer: Finally, the promise can be encoded into a blockchain or similar decentralized network, giving it universal validation and making it truly unenclosable.
I owe a debt of gratitude to Eric Harris-Braun and Art Brock for their pioneering work on scalable consensus and unenclosable messages at Holochain, as well as Mark Burgess for his work on Promise Theory. Their insights have been invaluable in shaping my understanding of these concepts, which I find extremely enlightening.
An unenclosable promise is a new paradigm for how we understand trust, agreement, and social cohesion. By pooling these promises and engaging in peering, we can revive ancient forms and create new forms of mutual aid that are as enduring, as universal, and as unenclosable and non-dominating as the world we wish to see. So let us all strive to make promises that we can keep, and in doing so, weave a tapestry of trust that can cover the world.