The first time I heard about blockchain was really not that long ago. I was participating in a conference on capitalism and democracy and there was a workshop on blockchain. The speaker praised blockchain to the heavens. He said that it is the future of the world. That it is bigger than the internet. That everything we know today will be transformed by the blockchain.
Oha, how have I not heard of it before?
So, I started reading up on blockchain. I read the whitepaper of bitcoin. Mhm intriguing. “We have proposed a system for electronic transactions without relying on trust.” Okay, so my money will be safe and I hold it and choose where it goes. No more relying on greedy banks and slimy middlemen. No more fear of my money disappearing overnight due to the bank going bankrupt. Especially after the financial crisis, I think we can all agree that banks are fucked up, right?
Next concept to check out: voting. I found the website https://followmyvote.com. They said that their platform will change voting as “, everyone can agree on the final count because they can count the votes themselves, and because of the blockchain audit trail, they can verify that no votes were changed or removed, and no illegitimate votes were added.” Now I don’t need to trust the government or the vote-counters on the results. I can literally follow my vote and see where it ends up, and see where all other votes go too.
SO MUCH MORE!
And then, guess what? I stumbled across Steemit. A social platform based on the blockchain? Reddit 2.0? Oh wow. Let’s read the white paper, no? “Steem is designed around a relatively simple concept: everyone’s meaningful contribution to the community should be recognized for the value it adds. When people are recognized for their meaningful contributions, they continue contributing and the community grows.”
That sounds fucking beautiful. It sounds progressive. It sounds fair. Everyone can add their value to the society and are rewarded for it. Everyone’s contribution is appreciated. Steemit is literally for everyone and anyone. I have already seen posts written in Arabic, Japanese, Farsi, English, German, French and Spanish. I have seen older Steemers and younger Steemers. There are no boundaries in Steemit. There are no restrictions. The only people that are segregated from the society are people that are toxic towards the community.
So, what was the next step? Obviously, to join and share my own thoughts and ideals and beliefs and viewpoints. To further slide down the blockchain rabbit hole and hopefully, one day end in Wonderland, the Blockchain Wonderland of the future.
