> For the complete documentation index, see [llms.txt](https://glossary.ecsa.io/llms.txt). Markdown versions of documentation pages are available by appending `.md` to page URLs; this page is available as [Markdown](https://glossary.ecsa.io/distributed.md).

# Distributed

A distributed system is a whole defined by the changing relationship of its parts, which does partitioning by indexing, and does not have to choose between consistency and a fork. In other words it is partition resistant. The economic space protocol is a distributed system: all agents have the same formal capacities; anybody can join the network; there is one grammar in the network that every [Agent](/agent.md) can speak, but no central authority: not even a virtual one.