Idea Ripper // ArchiveCards: 1555 [Live] | Updated: 2026-10-14
Card #c64IR // #c64Synthesis

Companies and other nonmarket organizations are needed to deal with the problem of incomplete contracting—the fact that contracts cannot realistically specify all possible contingencies in the messy real world.

— In our words · Source: Machine, Platform, Crowd (Andrew McAfee & Erik Brynjolfsson)

[Use when]

When decentralization hype says companies are finished.

[Why it matters]

The authors' answer to their own provocative chapter title: the crowd can't replace companies because contracts can't cover reality — someone has to hold the residual right to decide.

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