Sometimes I think I know how Victorians must have felt, with all those newfangled contraptions and technologies coming out, making people's lives better and easier.
Just as people at the turn of the 20th century got to witness marvels of technology and industry never before imagined, we are now experiencing a similar revolution in the very way systems of human interaction are set up.
The decentralization trend is everywhere, having disrupted major industries such as publishing, vacation rentals, manufacturing, and, as Steemians well know, social media and money. I see it as a natural response to the bigness of things. We've got big banks, big corporations, big nanny states, big pharma, big agri, and a plethora of other institutions that are too big to fail, too big to change, and too big to fight on their own terms. These institutions have used their bigness in (often successful) attempts to consolidate control over society and economy. Smaller businesses have little hope of competing against the collusion tactics of major, entrenched corporations, and individuals have little hope of circumventing the all-powerful purview of the state. But competition can't be stopped for long. Decentralization is coming for all those institutions that have gotten too big for their britches.
These huge, centralized institutions are very good at fighting wars amongst themselves. They're very accomplished at squashing smaller opponents. But what they can't do is fight a thousand tiny battles at the same time, on different fronts. Here are a few more examples of what I'm talking about:
- Decentralized services like AirBnB and Couchsurfer have thrown the hotel industry for a loop and a half, allowing individuals looking for travel accommodations to connect with other individuals with extra space to rent, and leaving major vacation and resort concerns scrambling to fill their expensive rooms.
- The same thing is happening to the taxi industry, as commuters abandon taxis in favor of the superior and less costly ride options offered by Uber and Lyft, and drivers opt to drive for these services where they can be more in charge of their own careers, rather than paying hefty fees to taxi unions and having to deal with all the union regulations.
- As my friend
discussed in his recent post, Want to be a Successful Author? Burn Any Rule Book You Find, the traditional publishing industry is reeling from the effort of fighting these constant battles with competitors too numerous to count. Millions of individual authors around the world are figuring out that they can have better chances of success, connect more easily with their audiences, and make more money by cutting out the middle man and self-publishing their books.
- As individuals around the world discover the freedom offered by cryptocurrencies, central banks and big financial institutions are waking up to the threat that crypto presents to their hold on the future of money.
- Folks are neglecting their Facebook and Twitter accounts in favor of posting on Steemit, where they have more control over the user experience, and can get paid for participating in social media.
- Although modern warfare has tools of death and destruction that were unimaginable a century ago, it seems unable to squash the threat of ten thousand tiny terrorist cells. Terrorism, too, is part of the decentralization trend. The United States military and its NATO allies have long been seen as too big and powerful to defeat, but Islamic terrorism is a hydra. Slice off one head, and three more grow back in its place.
- Even whole countries are getting in on the decentralization trend, as with Brexit in 2016 and a dozen other "exits" and secessions being seriously proposed around the world. The citizens of these nations are expressing discontent with top-heavy, centralized rule from afar, and are pushing for more local governance.
With the exception of Islamic terrorism, each one of these examples of the decentralization trend promises a bright future of greater freedom and prosperity for the human race. Just like those Victorians, we stand on the cusp of a better world, thanks to the technologies being developed and implemented today. Welcome to the Age of Decentralization.