The control over Earth's surface and natural resources are decentralized across ~190 different countries because humans have made it a habit to physically compete over territory.
The authority to write Bitcoins ledger is decentralized because Satoshi gave us a way to physically compete using electricity over that authority.
The complex emergent benefit of physical power competitions is security and decentralization of control. Whether that is control over territory, or control over a ledger in cyberspace, physical power competitions are the key to achieving both security and decentralization of any resource.
Humans have been engaging in proof-of-work for thousands of years to achieve security and decentralized control over the resources they value. Satoshi took that concept and in the digital age gave us a way to continue that tradition in a non-lethal way over a new highly valuable resource, bits of information passed over the internet.
This innovation has the potential to completely upend the way we think about organizing civilization in such profound ways that it's difficult to imagine today.. but those thinkers are beginning to emerge and a new renaissance is upon us.
I can't think of a more exciting time to be alive than this century. It's an honor and a privilege to be among you.