An excerpt from the popular HBO Show… Game of Thrones
“Knowledge is Power” – Sir Francis Bacon
We’ve all heard this quote more than once in our lives and although I do agree with it, I also believe knowledge is just the first step towards attaining true power. What exactly is true power? Is it Knowledge, Wealth or is it Control? Does it mean someone in possession of all of these has absolute power?
“Absolute power corrupts absolutely” - Sir John Dalberg-Acton
Should anyone even have that much power to begin with? We are human after all… susceptible to temptation, prone to mistakes.
What is the solution? Is an egalitarian society actually possible, or is it a distant dream? The current system is clearly not working. A lot of questions with only one answer in sight.
Enter Blockchain technology: A world where trust is guaranteed
Blockchain technology facilitates the liberation of information i.e. knowledge from the current ‘centralized’ system to a ‘decentralized’ one in an immutable manner meaning no one person or organization can tamper with or abuse this information for personal gains, as this information is spread out across multiple, randomly connected computers instead of a single source. Hence, the name Blockchain aka Distributed Ledger Technology. Secondly, with a little something called ‘smart contracts’ - agreements between two parties can be executed automatically on meeting certain conditions at particular timings, taking the whole ‘trust me’ equation out of it. This eradicates the need for ‘middlemen’ organizations such as banks and effectively abolishes the ‘Control’ these organizations exploit and the obscene amount of ‘Wealth’ they accumulate. A technology to guarantee ‘trust’!
Crypto: A revolution
In recent times, there has been an explosion in the number of cryptocurrencies as new projects issue their own ‘coins’ or ‘tokens’ to raise capital. Without being too technical, the holders of said coin or token receive financial gains similar to holding shares of a company in the stock market. The difference being, one doesn’t have to be living in Silicon Valley or have millions in their bank account to participate in great projects from the get-go. ‘Common people’ from any country can finally be much more than ‘common’. Imagine a world where no one can be exploited… everyone is equal, everyone gets a fair opportunity! Sounds like Utopia, doesn’t it?
“The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing” – Edmund Burke
As of now, this technology is still very young, and it might take some time to reach its full potential. As for any new technology you can’t expect to reach the ‘moon’ in a day, it needs to be nurtured with optimism and care to grow. There are many milestones to cross before we can dream of a truly egalitarian society.
This gives a lot of room for attacks by powerful organizations in powerful positions with a lot to lose. They choose to go about it by instilling fear in the minds of people which the Blockchain community commonly refers to as FUD i.e. Fear-Uncertainty-Doubt. These organizations are aware of the fact that the Crypto market is totally dependent on the confidence of the people investing in it and will not survive without it, especially at this early stage. Fear is how this threat can be ‘controlled’.
The greatest weapon we have right now is ‘Belief’. Our undeterred faith is the only way this amazing technology can survive and save us from the parasites of society. Do your own research and do not believe in FUD, especially coming from Mainstream media.
To conclude
So, if ‘Wealth’ and ‘Knowledge’ is how they ‘Control’ people which is equal to true ‘Power’, taking away the keys to it all from one and placing it in the hands of millions seems not only rational but the only way to go. Can you imagine a world that is fair and everyone is equal? Maybe that day is closer than we think.