Playing with learning systems

General Introduction and motivation of why we aim for the DAO governance structure

Our approach is one of playing within the spectrum of centralized-decentralized learning systems. Centralized was already known since we started from within a university. But to support decentralization, and innovation & creation from the community that comes with it, we set up a foundation in the Netherlands called 'KoiosDAO'. This foundation stated goal is 'to support education as a common,' and it acts as a legal vehicle if needed. It mainly remains dormant but ordered the Titan Token and the Titan NFT smart contracts. While all of this is very new to us, chances are things could not work out as planned. Suppose things go sideways, and we yet don't even know what sideways is. In that case, this foundation can also act as a final level of control, for example, by ordering the print of more Titan Tokens and rearranging governance.

Building on the shoulders of giants

The foundation does not own tokens itself, the philosophy is heavily inspired by the vision and approach of the Ethereum Foundation:

The KoiosDAO does not own Koios, operate it, or manage it. It is one of many organizations that cares deeply about Koios— its potential, and the values it represents.

However, we know that we have a unique position within that ecosystem due to our history. Significant research, development, and community cultivation took place by members of the KoiosDAO foundation. Today, we continue to fund development of many significant components of the Koios ecosystem.

As Koios will grow and change, so will the Foundation. We know that it's not just what we do but how we do it that matters.

To succeed long term, Koios needs a vibrant decentralized ecosystem with many independent organizations that provide funding, coordination, and leadership. Koios must remain a bazaar, and never become a cathedral.

Instead of just asking "how do we solve this problem?" we ask "how can the Koios community solve this problem, and how can we help?"

We often describe this as a philosophy of "Subtraction". This means resisting the natural tendency of organizations to grow and accumulate value within themselves, and cultivating value creation outside the Foundation in the broader Koios ecosystem:

• Instead of capturing opportunities, we distribute opportunities for others

• Instead of being defensive when others create value, we’re thrilled

• Instead of trying to matter more, we try to matter less

Ultimately, any philosophy is only as good as the choices it inspires.

Vitalik Buterin

Other centralized levers of control

There are currently also levers of control in the publishing of platform upgrades (Github), in the use of centralized technology (Discord), and in the creation of content and the validation of quality (THUAS). Eventually, we intend to dissolve the levers of control and hand complete control over to the open community, giving all equal access rights. The approach is to do this gradually, as we learn more about these new mass-collaboration methods and what it means to work towards Education as a common.

Some of the benefits and reasons to become a DAO

Koios aims to become a DAO, a decentralized autonomous organization run by an ecosystem of contributing parties and individuals. The Koios DAO governs the platform. The platform facilitates open learning ecosystems. The DAO structure is a rising new governance structure, mainly used in web3 applications, and distributes the governance from a central party to an ecosystem of multiple parties. In very simple terms: one token is one vote, and users can earn tokens by contributing value to the platform in all kinds of ways. It enables users to become owners of the platform they use and harbors strong incentives to contribute, from multiple perspectives. A DAO is open, transparent, and fairer by design. In the case of Koios, is it an attempt to radically improve the ways we share knowledge and learn.

• Distribution of ownership to the users instead of to one MegaCorp. Creating strong ecosystems instead of becoming a more and more powerful MegaCorp.

• In a DAO users own their own data, improved privacy.

• Transparent governance, all votings, and decisions are visibly stored online and accessible by token holders.

• Decentralized decision making; more votes from different backgrounds weigh in, aligning interests from multiple parties to a shared end goal.

• Due to peer-to-peer design and via smart contracting it is ‘cost-efficient’ (no intermediaries & automated)

• Strong incentives mechanisms due to the token model. A good designed token model enables users to collect different types of tokens with different values. Better suited to catch the network effects, Bitcoin and Ethereum are good first examples.

• A DAO generates initial funding and a good designed token model eventually creates a self-sustaining ecosystem that increases in value, together. It facilitates the transfer of values, directly between peers, and creates new ways of earning for contributing parties as well as for the DAO itself.

• Global reach: easily accessible for all that would like to add value

• Integration with other web3 applications, making it easy to build upon each other’s shoulders. Acts as a bridge to a fast-moving world of digital innovation.

• A way to experiment and learn from new organizational infrastructure and education innovation.

We are doing extensive research at the moment. If interested, please contact us on Discord and we will send you the most recent documents & findings.