Start Your Own Adventure

An invitation to go on your own journey, a roadmap, an affordance to set your path on, to understand the very basics that we had to go through in many, many hours of discussion and to hopefully provide you with a blueprint for your own (ad)venture.

Are You Ready to Embark on This Journey?


Dear traveler from afar, are you ready to embark on your own journey? Since we (the Samarians) embarked on our journey a little over 3 months ago(!) a lot has happened..it feels like a decade compressed into a few shorts months. We spent days with the founding members of Hypha (including Rieki and Joachim), we talked to amazing coaches (including Emily and Joost), we listened to Hilma af Klint and of course we listened to Samara.

At this stage of our journey, we want to invite you to go on your own journey, while ours will continue on into the next chapter. The following pages will give you a roadmap, an affordance to set your path on, to understand the very basics that we had to go through in many, many hours of discussion and to hopefully provide you with a blueprint for your own (ad)venture. Whatever direction you are taking, please rest assured we are here to help you and we encourage you to stay connected with the rest of us that are out there changing the world. It's a journey we are all taking together. Onwards, humans. 

We will begin the journey by outlining what the vessel is - the very first step if you are planning to cross an ocean - and explain the difference between a DAO and a DHO. Next, we will go over the fundamental building blocks of the DHO - DNA and RNA - to understand the necessary pre-work that you go though before launching your own (ad)venture. We conclude with a meitosis event that created the initial funding for Samara as a potential model to spawn many more DHOs in the future through a simple process called incubation quest. 

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About DAOs and DHOs

Samara is using a DAO (Decentralized Autonomous Organization) to coordinate all of our important activities, such as assignments for roles, claims on contributions or votes on proposals. A DAO records token-based transactions of an organization in a ledger that is decentralized and immutable - there is no 3rd party involved (like a bank or broker) - and every record is transparent and traceable back to its origin in the chain and its protocol in the smart contract.

A DAO, very much like the Chinese word 道 (pronounced in the same way, "dow"), signifies a “way”, a “path”, or a “road”. The question is: to where? The DAO enables two things - first, it provides a framework, a scaffolding to build your organization from the ground up, and together with others, in an organic and participative way. It is anchored in an evolutionary process that can move the organization and its members past disorganized and rivalrous states. Second, it enables participants to grow, to mature and to provide value by tapping into a multitude of talents and motivations.

But unlike DAOs in the crypto and blockchain space, our DAO is really a DHO, a Decentralized Human Organization (focus on Sociocracy) or Decentralized Holonic Organism (focus on Holacracy). Unlike DAOs that put technology at the heart ("code is law"), the DHO places the human at the center ("code is not law"). With this mindset, we provide the following core functions:

Decentralized Payroll is a new kind of payroll system that rewards people fairly and – unlike traditional payroll systems – sees participants as humans, not as resources. Thus, you are able to create your own role templates, get buy-in from your group, and then vote people into assignments (or apply for yourself). We have integrated this system with the Telos blockchain which takes care of secure token transactions in the background to reward your hard work. This feature is manifested in Roles and Assignments that work across the organization.

Distribution Accounting is a new kind of project-based work in a decentralized environment. It allows you to dynamically assemble a team around a project or contribution and define rewards for each contribution in a fair and transparent manner. Similar to role assignment, project contributions go through pay cycles and evaluations that allow teams to adjust work loads and tasks ongoingly. This feature is manifested in Quests and Badges that impact the organization.

Decentralized Decision Making is a new kind of governance framework that is designed for both scalability and resilience. While the former pushes decisions to the edges of the organization (and into the relevant circles), the latter ensure that the decisions are open, just and equitable for all participants. This feature is manifested in the 80/20 voting method (min 80% unity and 20% quorum required to pass a vote) as well as SVOICE, a token that determines your voting power.

 

Our DNA and RNA and our Code


The Samara DHO is encoding its basic building blocks in a kind of organizational DNA that can be easily replicated to other DHOs. DNA is the material in cells that contains the genetic information used in the development of all known living organisms. The information carried by DNA is held in the sequence of pieces of DNA called genes. For us, these genes are called Archetypes and they describe the basic building blocks of our our organization. 

The central tenet of molecular biology is often expressed as “DNA makes RNA, RNA makes proteins, proteins make us”. In the same way, once we have defined our organizational DNA, we can transcribe it to our organizational RNA, our Activities (body of work) that is carried out by our body of people. These activities include working on assignments, claiming pay-outs for contributions, or earning badges for accomplishments. 

Just like cell division is essential for cells to multiply and organisms to grow, Samara is preparing its DNA to transcribe and replicate new entities in hot spots around the planet (in molecular biology, transcription is the process by which the genetic information stored in DNA is used to produce an RNA strand). We are providing a blueprint for many possible combinations of this organizational material (like genetics). To learn more about this replication process, read through the Future State chapter where we introduce the Organization-in-a-Box, the Marketplace-in-a-Box, and the Village-in-a-Box. 

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Our own DNA is the code of Samara, which is unique. Parts of that code are archetypal and transferable. The packages and services we send out are the RNA we use to spread the essence of the life within us. This essence moves primarily through human beings. Through them it travels into the technology, services and growth factors that lead them to become Endlessly Regenerative.

Our Symbiosis with Hypha


While there had been many preliminary discussions within and outside of Hypha to create a new sister or child organization, the actual incubation happened through a unique process that is not unlike Meiosis in biology. As many readers will undoubtedly recall from their biology classes in high school, Meiosis is a process of cell division in the reproductive process, during which one cell primes the egg (DHO, tools, tokens, resources) and the other produces the sperm (purpose and intent) to generate a new organism.

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Hypha has created a "Samara Incubator Quest" (pictured below) that provided some initial funding (in HUSD) to launch an independent new entity called the Samara DHO (Decentralised Human Organization). The idea is to design this as a symbiotic relationship - both parties learn from each other and reap benefits in the future. The immediate benefit for Samara is receiving funds and knowledge (sowing seeds) and the long-term benefit for Hypha is to expand the network and gain a share in Samara's value creation. In other words, this is not a "one-sided deal" where one party exploits another party (knowingly or unknowingly) - we want both parties to succeed and thrive, growing further roots outside of Hypha and setting the stage for the next wave of meiosis.  

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However, the story does not end here. The next wave will look back at their parents and think about ways to improve on their organization, very much like Samara has improved on their ways after learning from Hypha. This is an ongoing process that can ripple though the entire network as it expands into new and unexplored territories (not unlike the universe expanding in new space... well, technically, the universe is everything, so it isn't expanding into anything). What is important in this metaphor is that wave after wave can occur without parents ever knowing about daughter entities generations ahead. Each generation will create their own unique characteristics and archetypes, inheriting the "genetic material" from the parent DNA thereby carrying the message further and further out into the known and unknown world.

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Example DNA, Parent and Ecosystem Genes

So, we've outlined the vessel and learned about the fundamental building blocks of the DHO.
Some questions still remain for any intrepid explorer:

Some example building blocks being considered:

Example RNA structures:

Samara recently discussed taking inspiration from the SCARF model (Status, Certainty, Autonomy, Relatedness, Fairness). Aims:

  1. Create processes on a group level that prevent or reduce a threat response in the individual.
    • (Outside in change: external 3rd person change > Individual 2nd & 1st person internal  change > org wide internal change)
  1. Agree standard learning processes specifically for higher/lower threat scan results; to help members grow and gain more insight as a result of tensions.
    • (Inside out change: Internal Individual 1st person change > Internal Group 2nd person change > external 3rd person learning recorded)

A model like this is like a piece of RNA with which an organisation can 'code' it's activities. 

Example DNA/RNA messenger technology:

The Heroine's/Hero's Journey is another model discussed frequently in Samara meetings. This is traditionally applied to individuals or individual stories, but can be converted to speak to the archetypal journey of forming and growing a DHO.

This model could be used to judge the right time to use other tools and methods because it not only speaks to being applied in specific situations, but to common stages in ongoing and perpetual cycles of learning. It could help Samarans and new and future DHO's to sense into and align around the stages we are already going through as individuals and groups. It could help members and different sub-groups to respond with awareness and acceptance of appropriate co-created, agreed game rules for each stage. 

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The hero/heroine's journeys are easy to see as just another model or methodology.
There is a fundamental difference, however, between these two types of modelling:

  1. A model that is created to be applied to a set of circumstances or contexts, or to a perceived need. We see this with multiple highly effective models designed for a purpose. Some of these are widely applicable, but still 'outside-in' formulated.
  2. A model which is identified and refined from a deeply embedded, pervasive and longstanding pattern that already defines behaviour and perception. The 'mono-myths' of the Hero & Heroine's journeys are just that.
    • The journey descriptions and phases describe the most basic cycles humans go through during cycles of success against all odds.
    • They speak to the human needs and subconscious ways our individual and social systems perceive learning and success.

The Hero/Heroine's Journey is an Emergent model. It has an ideal use case: determining how and when to use other models, tools, processes and cultural values. Checking what is happening in this way (which builds on Hypha's 'org scan' process), would channel rhythms dynamically to create safety or many other desired regenerative organisational 'states'.

This dynamic way of adjusting rhythm:

It is interesting to reflect on this and see that Hypha seems to have more of a masculine cycle, at least with their focus on building and launching tools and services. Samara has created a much more feminine space for emergence and quality. Any organization must balance masculine and feminine in order to both sense and act in an effective balance. An organization which is too stuck in action is missing opportunities and growth. An organisation too focused on sensing may be too slow or ineffective. Besides this balance, however, some DHO's will need to be primarily more masculine or feminine in quality depending on their purpose and activities. 

Ecosystem RNA and shared DNA? 

It would also be possible to combine these dynamic methods with some of the regenerative and thrive-ability patterns named in the SEEDS Constitution. The Constitution Part 1 is a compass, which is already used by many to navigate and actualize within the game of SEEDS.

For example, the three principles of life (article 3 of the SEEDS Constitution) relates to the expansion and contraction mentioned above in Samara. These are held and nurtured by the 4 suns (external) and 4 moons (inward) - which make the 8 values.

There are potential synergies here for collaboration with the Movement Building Circle within Hypha and the formation of new DHO's. Multiple DHO's could synergised through the SEEDS constitution or other ecosystem resources, while uniquely applying this synergy to their own context. This offers an opportunity to have the constitution embedded even more deeply than living in the Game of SEEDS and the individuals playing with and learning from it. 

Consider the huge wave of organisational change on the horizon. Consider unknown numbers of DHO's predicted to form very soon within the SEEDS ecosystem. We've used the analogy of new DHO's forming as in the mitosis of cells. The forming of a new cell retains almost all of the original DNA. How much and in what way is that the case here? 

Final questions to ponder: