Metcalfe's Law grows the center. Hamilton's Law grows the edges.
Today the internet runs on Metcalfe's Law: as a network grows, it gets more valuable. On platforms one company runs, that value flows to the center, to whoever runs it. That's centralization. Our proposal is Hamilton's Law: as a network grows, power spreads to the edges, and no one runs it alone. That's democratization. That's what we're testing.
Metcalfe's Law: as a network grows, it gets more valuable. On platforms one company runs, that value flows to the center, to whoever runs it. Hamilton's Law: as a network grows, power spreads to the edges. Two-thirds can overrule. Just over a third can block. No one runs it alone.
Metcalfe's Law is the math of how networks grow. Hamilton's Law is the math of who they grow for.
No one holds more than a third of the power.
Equal votes. Equal margins.
Hamilton's ratio is one-third. No holder of governance power reaches a third. At 126 seats, 41 passes, 42 is refused, and 43 can block a two-thirds decision. The one-third limit is on governance power only and never limits economic growth.
Equal governance weight, at every scale: every governor holds an equal vote, however large governance grows. Hamilton's Law places no limit on economic growth. It works with the Washington Economic Consensus: every owner gets the same margin, because each owner's share of revenue and of cost scale together and ownership cancels out of the margin.
Hamilton's Law. In a network where every member holds an equal vote and no holder of governance power reaches a third (Hamilton's ratio is one-third; 3 x share >= total is refused):
- every holder can be overruled by the rest (Math, Proved);
- control takes at least three independent holders (Math, Proved);
- with a two-thirds threshold, just over a third of the yes and no votes blocks a decision, and the one-third limit keeps any single holder below that share(Math, Proved);
- the number of members needed to block a two-thirds decision grows with the network: floor(N/3) + 1, which is 3 of 8 in 2020 and 43 of 126 today(Math, computed);
- that no single holder can break the Byzantine guarantee of Lamport, Shostak and Pease holds under the protocol's stated assumptions about faulty participants and communication (Protocol property, tested; not marked Proved).
Its economic partner (Washington Economic Consensus). Every owner gets the same margin: Margin_i = (O_i·R − O_i·C)/(O_i·R) = (R − C)/R for every ownership share O_i (Defined; true by construction when revenue and cost are shared in proportion). That cooperation is then the stable strategy is a proposition, tested on the record.
Prediction (Hypothesis). Networks under Hamilton's Law get harder to capture as they grow, and networks that follow Metcalfe's path get easier. This is the law's research proposition, and STORE tests it in public: every ballot, every send-back and every overrule, starting with FG.006-R.
Hamilton's Law. Discovered by Chris A. McCoy, CEO of STORE Research. Named for Alexander Hamilton, who wrote in The Federalist No. 22 (December 14, 1787) that two-thirds of the people of America 'could not long be persuaded … to submit their interests to the management and disposal of one third.'
Hamilton's Law was discovered by Chris A. McCoy at STORE Research and is named for Alexander Hamilton, who argued in Federalist No. 22 that two-thirds of the people could not long be persuaded to submit their interests to the management and disposal of one-third, and who defended the Constitution's two-thirds thresholds in Federalist No. 73 and No. 75. It connects that constitutional line to the one-third bound Lamport, Shostak and Pease proved for computers in 1982, and applies it to governance power in a network.
Two-thirds of the yes and no votes overrule STORE Research. Governors have voted since 2020. Live
Today a third of governors must take part (42 of 126). From Ballot 1, at least 51 of every 100 (65 of 126 today). 43 of 126 can block when all 126 vote. When exactly 42 vote, 15 can block.
Constitutional Mathematics 101
The mathematical framework governing democratic AI infrastructure.
Six rings. One theorem.
Constitutional governance is six rules that build on each other. Remove any one and the system can be captured. Together they produce something none of them produces alone: a network where power spreads to the edges, and no one runs it alone.
Ring 1: Equal start. Everyone enters with the same vote. One person, one vote. Money cannot buy a bigger starting position.
Ring 2: Equal votes. Money cannot buy extra votes once inside either. Economic weight and governance weight are separate.
Ring 3: Separated planes. Token holdings and vote weight are mathematically independent. They cannot distort each other at all.
Ring 4: The ceiling. No holder of governance power reaches a third: 3 x share >= total is refused. Next, where records are written: we're building the database to refuse a write that would break the ceiling. No court order. No committee. Schema.
Ring 5: Fault tolerance. While fewer than a third of participants are faulty, the honest rest still reach correct consensus, under the protocol's stated assumptions. Lamport, Shostak and Pease proved that bound for computers in 1982.
The exit gate: Clean Severance. When you leave, what you hold is yours. The protocol cannot reach your future. A democracy where leaving is catastrophic is a guild. Failure is a boundary.
When all five rings hold, the number of governors needed to block a two-thirds decision grows with the network: floor(N/3) + 1, which is 3 of 8 in 2020 and 43 of 126 today. The math makes legitimacy checkable.
Six mathematical constraints. Voting since 2020. Free download.
Governors needed to block: 3 of 8 in 2020, 43 of 126 today. Every three new governors raise the bar to capture by one. Today a third of governors must take part (42 of 126). From Ballot 1, at least 51 of every 100 (65 of 126 today). 43 of 126 can block when all 126 vote. When exactly 42 vote, 15 can block.
Governors have voted since 2020. No one has ever held more than a third. 126 governors. 30+ countries. 5 ballots ratified (FG.001 to FG.005). Five-ballot average approval 77.43%. FG.006 (December 2025): 42 votes cast, with 48 of 125 eligible taking part. Governors passed it. We've decided to send it back, and the formal notice with our reasons goes out before FG.006-R. FG.006-R: the overrule ballot, November.
One seat per independent person or organization. An organization's seat is voted by one verified person, so only people vote. One vote per seat, however much is held.
Hamilton found the ceiling; Lamport, Shostak and Pease found the floor. STORE was founded in May 2017. Governors have voted since spring 2020.
This paper is research before public peer review and before ratification. Not an offer of any security or token. The math is open source: anyone can use it to build their own constitutional networks. The IP remains with STORE Research Inc. Available for download at no cost.