Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin has released a sweeping new blog post on Tuesday titled “Balance of Power.” The post offers a critical analysis of the converging threats posed by “Big Business,” “Big Government,” and “Big Mob.”
No checks and balances
Buterin argues that checks and balances that historically kept societal forces in check are no longer in place. They have eventually broken down during the 21st century.
The Canadian prodigy has cited rapid technological progress and automation to argue that the economies of scale make it possible for powerful actors to consolidate control at an unprecedentedly fast pace.
His proposed solution is a concept he terms “mandatory diffusion.” The strategy boils down to forcing openness and interoperability upon closed systems.
Buterin characterizes the modern era as a “dense jungle.” The primary generators of progress have become sources of fear.
He argues governments must act as a neutral playing field rather than an active participant picking winners.
At the same time, Buterin has noted a disturbing change in Silicon Valley. He has observed that tech leaders, who once had strongly libertarian views, are now actively working to capture as much government power as possible.
Mandating diffusion
The core of Buterin’s argument is that one can no longer rely on natural friction to prevent total centralization. Hence, there is a dire need for diffusion to be engineered.
He has mentioned “adversarial interoperability” as a key mechanism. This involves creating tools that plug into existing platforms without the permission of the creators. Buterin has listed several examples relevant to the Web3 ethos. These examples include interfaces that filter content differently from what the host platform intends (for instance, ad blockers or AI-filters) and systems that allow value transfer without reliance on centralized financial chokepoints.
Sci-Hub has been cited as a tool that enforced fairness in science through mandatory diffusion.
“The conundrum: how do we have a flourishing civilization in the 21st century… without extreme concentration of power?” Buterin asks. “The solution: mandate more diffusion.”
A “pluralism morality” and the role of crypto
Buterin calls for a synthesis of moralities: one that encourages actors to be impactful while preventing them from becoming hegemonic.
Notably, he used the Ethereum-based liquid staking protocol Lido as an example. Despite holding roughly 24% of the staked ETH supply, Buterin argues Lido is less feared than a centralized entity of equal size because of its internal structure.
“Lido is not a single actor: it is an internally decentralized DAO with several dozen operators,” Buterin writes, though he adds that the community remains vigilant that Lido should not control the majority of the stake.
