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Speaker: Romain Plassard (LEDA, Université Paris-Dauphine PSL)
Room: B301
Day: 06/10/2026
Time: 14:00
Title: Hayekian Cyborg: Distributed Computing in the Agoric Project (joint work with Tianchan Dong)
Abstract: This article addresses the role of economics in digital transformation by examining the history of the “Agoric Project,” in which Mark Miller and Eric Drexler (1988) argued that Hayekian political economy could help design software for distributed computing. By reconstructing how and to what extent Hayek’s ideas informed their approach to computer science, our article shifts attention from economists to computer scientists as carriers of economic ideas. It further shows that the influence of economics on digital transformation extended beyond the design of online platforms and markets to the technical knowledge embedded in computing systems. Together, these findings broaden current understandings of how economic ideas have shaped digital technologies.
