Sovereign

Meme

The term Sovereign has a rich history and multifaceted meanings. At its core, it refers to supreme authority or power, often associated with rulers like kings, queens, or heads of state2. Sovereignty also signifies independence and autonomy, as seen in sovereign nations that govern themselves without external control.

Context

Historically, the word "sovereign" originates from the Old French "souverain," derived from the Latin "superānus," meaning "above". It has been used to describe monarchs, leaders of chivalric orders, and even municipal government officials in certain contexts.

In modern usage, "sovereign" extends beyond political realms. It can describe supreme quality or excellence, as in "sovereign remedy," or financial instruments like sovereign bonds. The concept of sovereignty remains central to discussions about governance, autonomy, and power dynamics.

Self-sovereign

This term is somewhat redundant as it indicates that one Individual has control of their own property, specifically their own Identity and other private items. As with other sovereignty it can also be shared as well. in 2020 it is not clear whether there is any legal or historical basis for such a claim.

State Sovereignty

The State can acquire Sovereignty principally by 3 means

• Divine Right - for example the opinion of the Stuarts when they took control of the English crown.
• Conquest - for example William the Conqueror came to England with a force of arms in 1066
• Popular - for example "We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, ..."

Origin of Authority: The state does not inherently possess sovereignty; it derives legitimacy from the collective will of its citizens.

Delegation of Power: Citizens grant authority to institutions (parliaments, executives, courts) through constitutions, elections, and civic consent.

Conditional Legitimacy: Sovereignty is not absolute. It is contingent on continued recognition by the people. If citizens withdraw consent (through protest, revolution, or constitutional change), the state’s sovereignty is undermined.

Personal Sovereignty

there are two types of intelligent agents in any enterprise. 1- artificial intelligence and 2-employees who have delegated authority from the org in the same way an AI does. Why bother to distinguish between them? The enterprise no long is distinguishing between them

Christian Posta = Tom Jones maybe you can be more specific: are you saying the existing identity and access management controls are sufficient for AI agents?

My comments are about the principal or originator of a prompt session. It is important for an agent to understand the identity of the originator, meaning whether a sovereign human is responsible for the origination. In my mind an employee is not a sovereign person.

Problems

When one person or group has full sovereignty over others it is known as a dictatorship. See the wiki page on Balance of Power‎s for more about overcoming dictatorship with a splitting of sovereignty among more that one Individual or group.

Solutions

While data under your control may not need an explicit owner identifier, data in the cloud needs to be associated with an owner who can control access to the data. In today's world, your personal data is "owned" by some enterprise role within some enterprise you have never heard of and cannot communication with. The proposal for the world of the future is that your personal data remains under your control and the enterprise owner must act as your Fiduciary. To exercise your control the data must be associated with your identifier.