Extitutional Theory: No Rules, No Roles, just Dynamics

I spoke to Primavera De Filipi (@yaoeo), one of the earliest scholars on law and crypto, Internet activist, and artist. She is permanent researcher at the CNRS and Faculty Associate at the Berkman Klein Center for Internet & Society at Harvard University. She is author of the book Blockchain and the Law published by Harvard University Press.

During the interview we spoke about some of the biggest questions facing crypto in regards to the law, her work on Extitutional Theory, and whether code is law. To understand the difference between using an institutional versus an extitutional framework, you can compare them like this:

Institutions = roles and rules, membership, well-defined boundaries, procedures and outcomes, competition
Extitutions =  identities and relationships, participation, rhizomatic networks, rituals and processes, cooperation

More sources on Extitutional Theory
Academic primer on Extitutional Theory
Shorter blog post on Introduction to Extitutional Theory
Longer blog post on Extitutional Theory

Very big thank you to alritedi for helping produce this episode . You can hear his music throughout the episode and find his music through his linktree.

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ICYMI I've written a book about, no surprise, blockchains through a left political framework! The title is Blockchain Radicals: How Capitalism Ruined Crypto and How to Fix It and is being published through Repeater Books, the publishing house started by Mark Fisher who’s work influenced me a lot in my thinking.

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