Let's talk alternate futures. Let's talk Blade Runner-style science fiction. Have you ever had grave fears about what the block chain could potentially become? Once you go past the skyrocketing graphs and fortunes to be made investing in cryptocurrency and take a peek at the merging tech, it raises real questions about our future.
The block chain. Decentralized ledgers. Indelible information.
When I look at some of the interviews and general commentary on the block chain, I cringe at the one-sided mindset sometimes. With no thought to the potential issues it causes. The idea that "the world must be decentralized, the world must be decentralized" has almost become a mantra, a mesmerising sentiment for many people in the crypto space. A new kind of dogma pushing for a future that is yet to be fully understood.
I'm not even speaking about conspiracy. I'm just talking about clarity. It's not clear what kind of "disruptive" changes will disrupt the world we live in. Disruption for the sake of disruption is not necessarily creative. It can be destructive also.
I have heard the cliche "Pandoras box has been opened" so many times in reference to the blockchain, that it makes me think about the tech that has been unleashed.
Given that the drive for decentralization is largely push back against "the centralized institution", it makes me wonder if this unhackable matrix of information is really just the next stage of centralization? A more widespread version of tyranny than the libertarian, anarchists and crypto community has realized. A Terminator-style "Skynet 1.0" of intelligence systems. A prison-mesh that follows you around the globe. A perfect cage unwittingly built by the freedom fighting good guys.
Have we just handed our liberty over to the enemy of human freedoms? Will rebels of the future be breaking into computer systems trying to turn off the blockchain? It boggles my mind that some many people who fear a cashless society, barcodes for identity and 1984-style futures rush to embrace the blockchain.
While I can see the positive benefits of the block chain, there may be issues with it too. Especially when blockchains talk to other blockchains and pass on information.
I think it prudent at this point to look for the potential side effects and negative use cases of the blockchain also. Military applications. And the like. While I'm bullish on a bright future, I am also wary of what happens when you push for something and apply no thought, no forward thinking to where you are going. And just push for it anyway.
But there is probably not much I can do about it if we are headed for a dark future. There is a crypto craze on. There is hysteria with 100x financial gains. I just wonder whether the hysteria is blinding people to a future we are fast creating. And will have to live with.
It makes one wonder. Either way.
Thanks for watching,
Brendan Rohan - Indie developer of 'next gen' natural medicine from Melbourne, Australia
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DISCLAIMER: This article is written by an amateur investor and is offered purely for information purposes. This is not financial advice and you should always seek the advice of a finance professional.