Anatomy of the transition

The impact of digital technology and the internet has transformed the pattern of information transfer, creation, and exchange from centralized to decentralized and distributive. This shift is mirrored in systems of governance, production, energy, transportation, and more, opening up possibilities for localized production of technologies and resources necessary for a modern, globally interconnected society. This facilitates the redistribution of power and responsibilities, fostering collective self-organization and bottom-up intelligence in a more dynamic, flexible, resilient, and adaptable manner.

This movement has given rise to the Internet of Manufacturing, stemming from the Internet of Information, which also encompasses the Internet of Things.

From the perspective of territories, borders, and cross-border flows (knowledge, information, people, resources, technology, etc.), we now recognize a new type of global territory: the digital territory. The interactions between national and digital territories are intensifying, reshaping the concept of globalization.

For some, this means the need for a centralized world government, demanding cultural and behavioral homogenization and the implementation of more complex and invasive control and surveillance mechanisms. This perspective is rooted in the knowledge paradigm based on representation, inherited from writing techniques—a mechanistic view that posits if we know all the variables, we can control and understand the universal "machine."

From the perspective and principles of transition engineering, interventions should focus on tools and techniques that facilitate self-organization, promote association and transactions generating decentralized and distributive patterns. The objective is to maximize individual participation and responsibility while minimizing the damage caused by centralized control attempts.

It is crucial to move away from the belief in systems and idealism derived from the paradigm of representation, such as capitalism, communism, socialism, and monetary systems. Under this projection, we would continually attempt to fit reality into our systems, measurements, or models, rather than allowing forms to emerge and transform based on the moment's needs, processed by collective cooperative intelligence.

New information technologies enable a return to nomadic organization patterns, effective for small groups or tribes. As societies became sedentary and developed agriculture, specialization increased, leading to more people transacting in the same territory, accumulating objects, and needing protection and management. This necessitated intermediaries and rules for arbitration, the rise of government, technological advancements in production, increased use of objects and tools, industrialization, and amplified specialization. Corporate organization emerged to simplify accounting and profit distribution, and to manage government relations.

Now, with available technology, we can revolutionize accounting techniques and organize production without traditional companies. Early manifestations of this direction include the Uberization of services, platform-based organizations, and attempts to create DAOs (Decentralized Autonomous Organizations) on decentralized networks and cryptocurrencies. The key is to identify organizational value and make it liquid without relying on monetary metrics, facilitated by coding techniques.