text: Motivated by the difficulty of effecting fundamental change in the architecture of the Internet, in this paper, we study from a theoretical perspective the question of how individuals can join forces toward collective ventures. To that end, we draw on an elementary concept in Internet systems engineering, namely, that of incremental deployability, which we study mathematically and computationally. For example, we show that incremental deployability is at least as general a concept as the Nash equilibrium (in that the latter can be derived from the former). We then draw on this foundation to design and analyze institutional mechanisms that are not only promising to bootstrap emerging Internet architectures but they also have broader applications in social organization beyond its predominant market (and finance)-based character.
  @cite_35: Collective action usually depends on a "critical mass" that behaves differently from typical group members. Sometimes the critical mass provides some level of the good for others who do nothing, while at other times the critical mass pays the start-up costs and induces widespread collective action. Formal analysis supplemented by simulations shows that the first scenario is most likely when the production function relating inputs of resource contributions to outputs of a collective good is decelerating (characterized by diminishing marginal returns), whereas the second scenario is most likely when the production function is accelerating (characterized by increasing marginal returns). Decelerating production functions yield either surpluses of contributors or order effects in which contributions are maximized if the least interested contribute first, thus generating strategic gaming and competition among potential contributors. The start-up costs in accelerating production functions create severe feasibili...
  @cite_14: An ignition device for an internal combustion engine, comprises a capacitor, a diode through which said capacitor is charged, and a thyristor for discharging said capacitor through a first primary winding of an ignition coil. The secondary winding of the ignition coil has induced therein a high voltage each time the capacitor discharges through the primary winding. The high voltage is arranged in use to create an electric spark between electrodes of a sprak plug and the thyristor is triggered by a timing circuit in synchronism with rotation of the internal combustion engine. Auxiliary means are also provided for prolonging the arc created between the electrodes of the spark plug.
summary: Related to the problem of diffusing innovation is that of inciting collective action (in the sense that the decision to act in a particular fashion diffuses in a social system) a problem whose study was initiated in the seminal work of @cite_14 . The study of collective action was later taken up by several authors such as, for example, in the form of critical mass theories (bearing relevance to nuclear fission explosions in physics) . @cite_35 motivates the study of collective action in settings bearing a political nature related to citizen oppression in rogue states, however, models of collective action range from crowdsourcing in the Internet to enabling countermeasures against climate change (such as controlling carbon emissions). Although various authors discuss the problem of inciting collective action through incentives mechanisms, the idea of creating institutions to that effect (as we do in this paper) and proving their efficacy has not, to the extent of our knowledge, been considered before by these earlier works. (An exception is where the analysis is at an elementary stage.)