an excellent observation, broadly true IME; many have difficulty conceptualizing the mechanism of action in decentralized systems, understandably so, as emergence & convergent evolution is complex & legitimately difficult to understand. how can things happens w/o smth doing them?
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RT @kaschuta
Humans want to attribute agency because causal chains are how we learn and interact with the world. In reality, especially in large, complex sys…
https://twitter.com/kaschuta/status/1435889956166189062

it's interesting how different groups are able to grok certain types of decentralized systems but not others. compare the sets of people who understand markets vs that which understands antifa; some overlap, but broadly disjoint sets.

where does this different stem from?

I posit that the divergence is one of values and theory of change, specifically in how one envisions the relationship between the two. does change flow from values? are values even relevant? can groups with differing values collaborate on large projects? if so, what is necessary?

some believe that only unity of purpose can truly motivate people to work together for a common goal; some shared vision of the future, a common raison d'etre, a compatible way of approaching problems & making decisions. this theory of change is often applied in far-wing politics

consider those who refuse to hold discussions with people who don't share their object-level goals, who take hard-line positions and refuse to discuss nuance or compromise. these groups tend to be very aligned in purpose, but have difficulty growing, accepting only true believers

on the other hand, some people prioritize more meta-level values, those which govern how people who disagree can go about collaborating and coexisting. they care about things like discussion norms, rules of engagement, boundaries of acceptable discourse, alignment thru incentives

these groups tend to be willing to work with those who have vastly different beliefs, politics, visions for the future, so long as they agree on the rules of the game. the fundamental values here are those of liberty, as opposed to those of justice commonly held by the former.