Two Thousand Years Too Early

Abstract

The teachings of Jesus Christ contain identifiable coordination principles: flat network topology, self-sovereign origin, distributed cognition without resolution, attestation without judgment, explicit and revocable authorization, and permissionless participation.

These principles have been recognized and partially implemented throughout history, by early Christian communities, Quakers, Anabaptists, and others, but have consistently failed to scale beyond small groups. This paper argues that the failure was not philosophical but technical. Coordination without central authority requires enforcement, and enforcement without cryptography requires delegating to humans, who accumulate power.

Cryptography does not eliminate coordination failure. It removes one of its primary structural causes, and introduces, for the first time, a viable mechanism for enforcing coordination rules without delegating authority to any individual or institution.