Lausanne World Pulse – Perspectives Articles – Learning from Ants: Intelligent Swarms in Many Settings
The committee came to several conclusions about money, which led to a completely new paradigm for the little plastic card. It was not about the exchange of credit; rather, it was about the exchange of value. Hock has written, “An organization that could globally guarantee and transfer monetary information in the form of arranged electronic information would have a market, every exchange of value in the world, that beggared the imagination.” There was only one problem: no existing organization of any type (bank, stock corporation, nation-state) could do this.
A small group of four people isolated themselves for several days of intense discussion. Out of this came the idea of two kinds of institutions: one where the members share certain principles and values, and the other which is governed. Slowly, the founders identified a “genetic code”—a statement of shared purposes and principles. These included:
- The organization should be fairly owned by all the participants.
- No function which could more reasonably be done by a more peripheral, field-based member should be performed by any more central member.
- No power should be given to anyone that might be reasonably exercised by a lesser participant.
- All participants have the right to organize for self-governance at any time, for any reason, at any scale, with irrevocable rights of participation.
- It should be open to all qualified participants.
- It should induce, not compel, change. As much as possible, everything should be voluntary.
- No individual, institution or combination of either should be able to dominate or control deliberations or decisions.
- All participants are free to compete in diverse, unique and independent ways, yet be linked to sense the demands of others and cooperate when necessary for the inseparable good of the whole.
- It should be capable of constant, self-generated change of form and function without sacrificing its essential purpose, thus enabling human creativity.
Hock and his friends did not think such an organization could be created—but it was. In June 1970, VISA was launched. It started with a handful of banks, but today is equitably owned by over twenty thousand financial institutions in 220 countries. VISA has no shareholders. It has no central owning company. Ownership is in the form of perpetual, non-transferable rights of participation; “VISA cannot be bought, raided, traded or sold.” Over 600 million people use VISA products at more than twelve million merchant locations, producing over US$2 trillion worth of business annually. Its products are the most universally used and recognized in the world, yet the organization is so transparent that its customers, most of its affiliates and many of its members do not know it exists or how it functions. VISA is a swarm.
Can we create a missionary swarm? We will look at that question next month.
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