---
title: "Design for asymmetry"
description: "Aspiration doesn't produce equity; structure does – build explicit mechanisms into every accord layer"
url: "/design-for-asymmetry/"
tags: [principle]
readingPathPosition: 7
---

# Design for asymmetry

We are embedded in systems of power that distribute resources and opportunities very unequally. That's what all of our designs need to respond to – and interrupt.

Aspiration doesn't produce equity; [structure](/interrupt-separation-at-the-level-of-structure.md) does. This means building explicit structural mechanisms into the [accord layer](/every-protocol-has-three-inseparable-layers.md) of every protocol: inverse weighting (smaller organisations' voices count more, not less), caps on accumulation (no agent holds mandates across too many domains), mandatory "who is not in the room" checks before network-wide decisions, collective pre-emptive boundary-setting, and automatic redistribution triggers when accumulation exceeds consent-defined thresholds.

In addition, [critique and contemplation](/every-protocol-has-three-inseparable-layers.md) in our protocols need to make sure we regularly interrogate these structures: How do they actually distribute access, power, opportunity, labour? Where do we need to change them in order to interrupt asymmetry?

## In this vault

- Previous: [Interrupt separation at the level of structure](/interrupt-separation-at-the-level-of-structure.md)
- Next: [Make voice cheap](/make-voice-cheap.md)
- Referenced by: [Make voice cheap](/make-voice-cheap.md), [Protocol design is guided by a set of principles](/protocol-design-is-guided-by-a-set-of-principles.md), [Protocol draws on three traditions](/protocol-draws-on-three-traditions.md), [Tension drives development](/tension-drives-development.md)