We are seeing major shifts in the world taking place. The established system is rapidly changing and few are truly aware of what is taking place.
There is little debate that we live in a world of centralization. All our institutions are centrally run. They operate, for the most part, on a hierarchical structure. This top-down approach allows for the few to control the power over larger numbers.
Think of the typical corporation. Those with the most power are the C-level executives and, perhaps, the board. Depending upon the organization, this could be a couple dozen people. These companies, however, employ thousands of individuals.
We see the same thing with government. Between politicians and bureaucrats, it can number a few million people. Yet, in a country like the United States, they wield power over 330 million people. Have you ever had some low level bureaucrat at some government entity tell you "no"? It happens all the time.
Perhaps the one of the most powerful industries is banking. These companies were able to operate without much interference for decades. In the U.S. they do not prosecute bankers. A bit more than a decade ago, they brought down the global economy but not one went to jail.
As mentioned, times are changing. There is no better example than the banking industry. For the past 15+ years, FinTech was eating away at their market share. This is only accelerating. In fact, the entrants are coming from all directions.
In this article I noted how Walmart is now entering the world of FinTech by partnering with a entity with the goal of acquiring other leading FinTech companies.
This is all happening at a time when the banks are expected to incur big losses when they report.
Thus, we are seeing the demise of the banking industry. Few are aware of it but there is another sector starting to take over. That is the technology companies.
Here is where the title comes in.
As we know, mega-tech is no walk in the park either. They came to power through surveillance capitalism, i.e. making money off the efforts of their users. This enables them to keep gaining power as they leverage the network effect for massive profits.
Over the past few weeks, they show how much power they do, indeed, wield. With the click of a button, they can wipe out an account, and someone's business, in an instant. These giants even went up against the President of the United States and won without much of an issue. Obviously, these entities have little to fear from governments.
Here again, we see the impact that a few can have on the masses. For a company like Facebook, their actions affect billions of people. The same degree in numbers, the same is true for Microsoft, Apple, and Google. Their reach extends far beyond any national boundary.
So are we any better off in the hands of these technology companies over the banks? Time will tell but the way they operate, it is not likely. We are just switching from one centralized entity to another.
This is a phase that we have to go through. Many around the world are starting to wake up. Cryptocurrency and blockchain offer alternatives to what is presently taking place. Unfortunately, there is still a lot of work to be done to achieve a system that can handle the traffic. Most of this industry is still dependent upon centralized entities.
That could be a problem as the industry gains in power. Over time, we are going to see the impact this has on mega-tech also. However, it will have to be a slow bleed to avoid a total stamping out. The situation with Parler showed how quickly things can disappear.
Decentralized storage, names, and financial resources is vital. Ultimately, we are going to have to see Digital I.D. systems and truly decentralized data that is controlled by the user. For now, we simply are not there.
That is where we will be moving away from the present structure to one of freedom. Everything that is centralized must go. The Internet, which is becoming the foundation of people's lives and one of the legs of Web 3.0 (4th Industrial Revolution, 5th Stage of Humanity, etc), is now a silo whereby a few companies truly control the entire thing. A handful of companies are controlling more than 4.5 billion people through this medium.
Fortunately, cryptocurrency and blockchain operates on a global scale also. There is no limitation based upon national boundaries. People from all over the world are contributing to the growth of the industry. This is happening both on the development and user side. Each time we have another person involved, in whatever capacity, it is one adding to the ranks.
The key is to keep building to enrich people who are involved. If they have a lot at stake, they are more likely to fight to protect what they have. With a market cap of about a trillion dollars, crypto is still roughly half the size of just Apple. It shows how much more room there is for growth.
To achieve freedom, it is going to require infrastructure and billions of users globally. This is the only way to offset the power of the centralized structures that are in place. If the banking industry is getting weaker, that is only making technology companies more powerful.
After all, we see how much power they wield over social media. There is nothing stopping them from behaving in the same manner with people's money.
The parties might be changing yet the tyranny is still the same.
It is up to us to change that.
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