What is peer to peer and What are most popular P2P mobile platforms

by winngie

3 January 2019

General

Peer to Peer

3 comments

Peer to peer is the relational dynamic at work in distributed networks

Peer to peer is there not restricted to technology or P2P filesharing as such, but covers every social process with a peer to peer dynamic, whether these peers are humans or computers.

Peer to peer is particularly expressed in social processes such Peer ProductionPeer Governance, Peer Property, Peer Transportation and Peer Exchange.

It’s a way of organizing, and a way of thinking about organizing. It’s also a political and social program for those who believe that in many cases, peer to peer modes are a preferable option.

“What is peer to peer? Here’s a first tentative definition: It is a specific form of relational dynamic, is based on the assumed equipotency of its participants, organized through the free cooperation of equals in view of the performance of a common task, for the creation of a common good, with forms of decision-making and autonomy that are widely distributed throughout the network. 

P2P processes are not structureless, but are characterized by dynamic and changing structures which adapt themselves to phase changes. It rules are not derived from an external authority, as in hierarchical systems, but generated from within. . It does not deny ‘authority’, but only fixed forced hierarchy, and therefore accepts authority based on expertise, initiation of the project, etc… P2P may be the first true meritocracy. The threshold for participation is kept as low as possible. Equipotency means that there is no prior formal filtering for participation, but rather that it is the immediate practice of cooperation which determines the expertise and level of participation. Communication is not top-down and based on strictly defined reporting rules, but feedback is systemic, integrated in the protocol of the cooperative system. Techniques of ‘participation capture’ and other social accounting make automatic cooperation the default scheme of the project. Personal identity becomes partly generated by the contribution to the common project.

P2P is a network, not a hierarchy (though it may have elements of it); it is ‘distributed’, though it may have elements of centralization and ‘decentralization’; intelligence is not located at any center, but everywhere within the system. Assumed equipotency means that P2P systems start from the premise that ‘it doesn’t know where the needed resource will be located’, it assumes that ‘everybody’ can cooperate, and does not use formal rules in advance to determine its participating members. Equipotency, i.e. the capacity to cooperate, is verified in the process of cooperation itself. Validation of knowledge, acceptance of processes, are determined by the collective. Cooperation must be free, not forced, and not based on neutrality (i.e. the buying of cooperation in a monetary system). It exists to produce something. It enables the widest possible participation. These are a number of characteristics that we can use to describe P2P systems ‘in general’, and in particular as it emerges in the human lifeworld.

Whereas hierarchical systems are based on creating homogeneity amongst its ‘dependent’ members, distributed networks using the P2P dynamic regulate the ‘interdependent’ participants preserving heterogeneity. It is the ‘object of cooperation’ itself which creates the temporary unity. Culturally, P2P is about unity-in-diversity, it is concrete ‘post-Enlightenment’ universalism predicated on common projects; while hierarchy is predicated on creating sameness through identification and exclusion, and is associated with the abstract universalism of the Enlightenment.

To have a good understanding of P2P, I suggest the following mental exercise, think about these characteristics, then about their opposites. So doing, the radical innovative nature of P2P springs to mind. Though P2P is related to earlier social modes, those were most in evidence in the early tribal era, and it now emerges in an entirely new context, enabled by technologies that go beyond the barriers of time and space.

An important clarification is that when we say that peer to peer systems have no hierarchy or are not centralized, we do not necessarily mean the complete absence of such characteristics. But in a P2P system, the use of hierarchy and centralization, serve the goal of participation and many-to-many communication, and are not used to prohibit or dominate it. This means that though P2P arises in distributed networks, not all distributed networks exhibit P2P processes. When distributed meshworks, for example interlinking boards of directors, serve a hierarchy of wealth and power, and are based on exclusion rather than participation, this does not quality as a full P2P process.

P2P can be a partial element of another process; or it can be a full process. For examples, the technological and collaborative infrastructure build around P2P principles, may enable non-P2P processes. In the example just above it is the infrastructure of Empire, but it can also enables new types of marketplaces, gift/sharing economy practices, Exchanging Foreign currencies such as Winngie, sharing your car like Uber, or your house Airbnb.  Where P2P is a full process, we will argue that it is a form of communal shareholding producing a new type of Commons.”
Here you go with the Winngie Exchange and Send Money Mobile App to start matching with people around you.

Quoted from Michel Bauwens.


3 comments

  • Livio Reply

    19 November 2019 at 18:07

    hello good article.
    How is winngie different from TRansferwise? Is it more competitive??
    Regards

    • Winngie

      21 November 2019 at 15:17

      Hi. Thanks for your comment
      Transferwise and some others are called as Remittance services and they are also working with banks for you. Your all data and information is still shared with banking services and without their approvement you can not get your money or send your money. Also for some small countries or restrict countries it can take upto 10 days to receive money with remittance system. With Winngie, your money actually never crosses any border. We connect people in cross countries to give or take money inside the country. Even money can pass to receiver by hand or just local bank transfers which is on time and almost free. You may check our whiteboard explanation video to understand clearly. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gU5S9-r5flI We call this smart way to transfer money or exchange money with real people. Real P2P, no commision. Download our Mobile App now to save more. Regards.

    • Winngie

      12 June 2020 at 10:23

      We are not using any bank or 3rd party companies. Transferwise is so much bothering during registration and sometimes it takes 10 days to deliver the money to receiver plus the costs. We match people in cross countries and they can swap the money locally with their receives. You may watch this video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gU5S9-r5flI

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published.