Decentralized Systems

The articles in this special section focuses on decentralized systems. Our world is filled with decentralized systems, human society and organizations being the most familiar examples. In such systems, we see multiple loci of ownership or control, representing different parties or administrative domains. That is, the members of a decentralized system are, belong to, or represent different people or organizations. We use the term decentralized system to mean any system formed of autonomous entities, with a special interest in cases where the entities are heterogeneous. Autonomy here refers to the decision-making capacity of an entity, meaning that it decides for itself. In other words, autonomy reflects the freedom to act. Heterogeneity here refers to the design, construction, and configuration of an entity, meaning that it is potentially built on distinct grounds from any other entity. In other words, heterogeneity reflects the freedom of a designer to apply any reasoning method on any available information.