It is both very technical and very political. Encryption itself is a highly political technology - the right for two parties to communicate securely and covert

It is both very technical and very political. Encryption itself is a highly political technology - the right for two parties to communicate securely and covertly is controversial in many parts of the world, even today. The economics of centralization are a dependent on the technical choices of the protocol -- PPCoin and scrypt-based crypto-currencies are specifically designed to avoid the scenario that is happening right now, by not relying solely on sha256^2 hashing power. Of course they are not perfect and have their own issues.