^Hopefully, It'll look something like this :)^
I’m going to attempt to paint a picture in your head illustrating the things that are possible through implementing block chain technology. So strap in, grab a frappuccino, light up a stogy, and get ready for an epic journey into the future!
“A revolution, is the crumbling of an old structure and the fruition of a new one. A necessity, just as death brings birth, and birth brings death.” -Me!
The Issues At Hand
For the last decade, day to day life hasn’t changed much. The structure of our lives (for the majority of us) revolves around working a job, that we don’t necessarily enjoy, so we can make end’s meat to support ourselves. I know what you’re thinking (Go to school, dweeb!), the problem is, I’m not trying to accumulate a debt that is going to take me the rest of my life to pay off. I think a lot of people find themselves in this predicament.
Do you ever look at the state of affairs of the world and get vague, itchy sense that we are devolving? (I mean look at the presidential candidates in the U.S. right now, come on). Why is this? It’s because the way society is structured right now, stupidity is rewarded. Stupidity means attention. Attention means exposure. Exposure means reward. It’s become a real life Idiocracy. Now, this is not exactly “we” the peoples, fault. It’s that there are institutions put in place that directly benefit from keeping the masses dumb. If people are distracted, then it is difficult for them to understand what is really going on. And the cycle continues… The rich get richer, the poor get poorer, and nobody knows what the hell is going on, because we are all too busy looking at Kim Kardashian's ass. Which is pretty nice… But come on, who really gives a hoot.
I mean, we have the internet (woohoo!), which is a fantastic tool. The problem is, we haven’t even begun to tap into its full potential. We’ve seen social media sites come and go (most of them just being the same thing, re-skinned, with a new user interface). We’ve seen some innovation in the current platform of the internet… but, what If we created a new platform for innovation? In a way the internet is in its bronze age. Time for an upgrade don’t you think? Me too.
The big issue here is that the wealth of the world is stagnantly wrapped up in the hands of a greedy few. Since they have the money, they make the decisions. The problem is, just because you have the money, doesn't mean you know how to make the right decisions. That’s a real bummer for us. This is why we struggle to thrive. Information flows freely. Products flow freely (most of the time). Humans travel about freely. But wealth is gummed up in the pockets of a very small percentage of people. What if we could un-gum the wealth and redistribute it fairly among EVERYBODY. Who’s that knocking? Oh, well Hello, block chain :)
The Beauty Of Block Chain Technology
So, let’s start this off on a more positive note, shall we? Well, let’s get the definition of a block chain out of the way first. A block chain is a decentralized, transparent, string of blocks of information. Easily, and readily accessible by anybody who wishes to use the information. Liken it to a brain that anybody can peer into. It can be used as a platform to create new technological systems.
Why is this important, dude? Because it gives us the power to understand the uncensored truth and origins behind any subject at hand. It provides us with up to date information about what is going on right now. It is stored indefinitely. It’s always accessible. It creates an infinite string of valuable information!
Now, here is how the internet is currently structured. Say you want to get a piece of information. You go to google. You type in, I don’t know, “horse”, a picture of a horse pops up. Cool. So what happened in order for that horse picture to get there? Well, let me tell you. Somebody took a picture of a horse and they wanted it on their blog. So they uploaded it. Everything is fine and dandy, right? Nope, here is the problem… Say the owners of the blog really fucking hate horses. They want all horses dead and want no evidence that they even existed. So they take down the post, and email the blogger “sorry, horses just really suck”. What an asshole, right?
Now expand that idea into all areas… This happens in trade, information acquisition, educational opportunities, job opportunities. This is why centralization kind of sucks. Decentralized block chains eliminate this issue!
The Possibilities
Imagine a future where this technology gets integrated into our everyday lives. No more corporate greed. No more restriction of information. The expansion of your knowledge entirely rests upon your own shoulders. Woah… How empowering would that be? I’m going to give you a few examples of how this can revolutionize different areas of our life, in the most beautiful and exciting of ways!
Does it irk you that you are stuck in the rut of poverty? What if instead of some miracle circumstance, you could begin pushing your life forward right now, with the tools you have, and the knowledge in your noggin. Would that not be incentive to further pursue knowledge? Through block chain technology we could create systems that reward the contribution that you have to offer, right now. Your ideas can be voted on and implemented based on their practicality, instead of your societal position. Actually, social network wise, I pretty much just described Steemit! Isn’t this awesome! It’s beautiful because it provides incentive to expand and share your knowledge, rather than contract it. (through images of Kim Kardashian’s ass, hateful posts on social media, and songs about twerking).
How about your political system? Does that bother you? Would you like to know for sure if your vote is being counted? Or if someone was miss-elected? If we were to implement a block chain based system of voting, we could create a TRULY representative democracy. Where everybody’s vote counts and everybody’s voice matters. Leaders would not have to weasel their way through the current political paradigm (Which is only set up to have a certain “kind” of person elected in the first place). Hmm… Sounds nice!
Pulling the internet out of the bronze age? If the platform of the internet was based on block chain technology, imagine the doors of possibility that would open up. Instant, direct, uninterrupted connectivity, to anyone, anywhere. Wealth could be transferred instantaneously without having to rely on banking institutions. Information would be uncensored and easily accessible on the basis of its intrinsic value, instead of being shoved down your throat by somebody who wants to profit off of you. Cool!
How about MONEY? There has got to be a better way to do this. What if, instead of centralized banking institutions, we structured our society around a free flowing, decentralized pool of wealth. The wealth could be distributed based on your contribution to society as a whole? It would create a “trustless” system where nobody would have to put their faith in anyone else to complete a transaction. These Ideas are not some farfetched utopia. The path for this future is being dug right now!
As exciting as this all is, there is still a long way to go before this gets fully implemented. The good thing? The more people that understand the potential behind this technology, the faster it can get implemented! So Let’s all hop on board and boost these new systems into fruition!
Happy Reading!!