Kolja Sahm
Research on Autonomy in Decentralized and Intelligent Systems
Autonomy can be understood as a system’s capacity to respond to uncertainty.
My research investigates how autonomy emerges, how it can be operationalized, and how it may ultimately be measured within decentralized governance architectures, artificial intelligence systems, and complex socio-technical infrastructures.
Using Decentralized Autonomous Organizations (DAOs) as an empirical laboratory, I develop a formal framework that translates the abstract concept of autonomy into observable and measurable structural properties. The framework provides a basis for systematically comparing governance architectures and evaluating the degree to which systems exhibit autonomous characteristics.
Beyond decentralized governance, this work extends toward intelligent agents and multi-agent systems, raising broader questions about agency, responsibility, and the conditions under which autonomy becomes meaningful in artificial systems.
At a deeper level, my research also engages with the philosophical implications of autonomous systems, including the relationships between autonomy, consciousness, identity, and time.
PhD Researcher