I am 
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My girlfriend and I are total opposites. I don't mingle too much, I don't talk too much and I definitely don't take as many selfies as she does. It makes you wonder how we got together in the first place right? Given the huge age disparity between us it was ever so unlikely that we would be ending up with each other. What can I say? opposites attracts.
We do however share the common interest in technology. Specifically we have fallen in love with the notion of Bitcoin and its underlying technology, Blockchain or more appropriately, distributed ledger technology. While many of us think of it as a new form of digital currency that is programmable, transparent, decentralized and secure, or as Andreas Antonopoulos puts it the "Internet of Money" I would prefer to define it as the "Money of the Free." I will elaborate on this later when I find time to share my musings about this burgeoning asset class that has titillated the minds of the many.
Privacy and freedom are two of the things that I cherish most and perhaps many of you as well. People would like to think they are living privately just because they live in the privacy of their homes protected by their walls and roofs, away from the prying eyes of others. They also think that they are free just because they live in a democracy where there is relatively more freedoms compared to others jurisdiction.
This is where the problem lies. We do not realized that everyday our privacy is being violated. Technological advancement in communications and the internet has enabled us unprecedented freedom to access information but at the same time opened us up to new risks and dangers. We are now at risk of data mining, target marketing, data hacks, activity monitoring, identity theft, social engineering and others.
Recent events have made us realize that the culprits are the very institutions, that for the longest time, have trusted. Search engines which we thought gave as great value due to their utility is now being use to monitor and gather user data activities. Banks that we trusted our money with, are now being weaponized to forward the agenda of the few world powers under the pretense of anti-money laundering and terrorist financing. Government agencies such as Central Banks (the Federal Reserve) refusing to acknowledge new innovations due to its existential threat and continue to support the unsustainable fractional reserve banking system and quantitative easing.
We may chose to continue to live our daily lives and pretend that these problems do not exist. Remain subservient to the machinations of powerful entities that do not hold the people's best interest at heart but to protect the status quo on maintaining the social hierarchy where the oligarchs stays on top and getting the lions share of wealth.
I chose not. I chose to be more aware of this problem and find solutions that will benefit not only myself but many others as well. Too much power corrupts, this universally true with anyone, even organizations and institutions. This is the very value of decentralization, not to give too much power to any people, organizations or institutions that may corrupt or blur their mandate. To hinder concentration of power to a few that may not represent the full interest of the community at large. To avoid one point of failure. To provide a more equitable distribution of value, power and information.
Bitcoin is a good example of decentralization and a successful implementation of blockchain technology. With it we have been presented with a relatively successful alternative to the current monetary system or policy that is agnostic to any jurisdictions. A decentralized structure that removes intermediates and empowers users to truly hold and own their own digital asset.
I guess you have now a fair assessment on what I plan to do here on Steemit. I do not plan to blog everyday. rather I would like to engage the community more and read blogs related to this new technology and its use-cases. I would like to discover how the community perceive this new asset class and how they plan to leverage it on their daily lives.
I am here not to convince anyone. I am here to just state my opinion and learn from yours.