I notice you’re building the future, and I’d like to lend a hand. This is me-
Oops no, that’s my cat George. You guys caught that quick; good job.
And I am here because I’m curious about the blockchain, which I believe is going to be a huge deal. And globe-spanning social and technological changes are not the kinds of things you can talk about with only your cat.
Right now I am learning to code. I’m a full time student in an online web development program. I went to school for creative writing though, and I still read a lot. I’ve worked as a medical scribe in the past, interviewing patients about the their lives and struggles. I’m not sure yet if I’ll be working as a web developer or taking that technical knowledge to a different field.
In all seriousness though, I suspect, and George firmly believes, that blockchain will be fertile technological topsoil for a lush new jungle of interconnected applications, much as the Internet now hosts its own ecosystem that would have been just a dream when the first ARPANET computers exchanged simple electronic notes for the military.
I believe that the blockchain- which makes complex, collective activity possible without the need for middlemen to manage the process- may well be the dawn of a new era in human society, in which the shape of society is no longer a top-down pyramid of control, but a complex tangle of self-managing, infinitely complex voluntary associations reflecting the decentralized structure of the blockchain itself.
This technology raises the potential for humans to work together in a spirit of kindness and giving- for humans to recognize that despite the many flags that carve our common earth into arbitrary pieces, we are all one tribe and always have been. Gradually we will see that we share one earth underneath the blood-soaked, invisible lines that we guard so jealousy. And as this happens, great things are possible that suit the grand scope of our collective will to strive, create and achieve.
I think that much unnecessary suffering in the world comes from bad and corrupt politics, from the abuse of power and the way it is exercised. I think there are structural problems inherent in top-down political systems that lead inevitably to oppression of the large majority of their populations, and lead to waste and destructive struggle between human societies.
Sometimes though, the ceaseless expansion of scientific knowledge and the constant growth of new technologies outpace the relatively slow evolution of our political systems and social ideologies, and a gap is opened to experiment within. Sometimes a device like the printing press is invented,
A piece of technology that doesn’t just save time and money, but actually makes it possible for society to be organized in new ways. For ideas to spread, mass literacy to take root and for enormous populations to share, spread and innovate ideas at a speed and scale never previously witnessed. And that historic triumph of human innovation was followed by the next information revolution, the rise of the Internet.
An earlier example is the kleroterion, which ancient Athenians used as a way to randomly select citizens for jury duty and state offices. The rule of law, and therefore democracy and social fairness, required technology that embodied its values in physical form.
Technologies like these underlie the way power is exercised in society. New tech allows information to be managed in new ways, and allows the general population to explore new modes of organizing. In other words, new technologies sometimes lead to new power dynamics.
Now, a new technology has been invented whose effects will be similar in spirit and scope to the the printing press, the internet, or the simple devices that ensured trust in the Athenian democracy. Another invention that lets us not only be more efficient at the things we do, but that lets us do entirely new things. It’s the blockchain.
Steem occupies a unique place in the bright and fruitful ecosystem of projects that’s beginning to sprout amid the ruins of our former technological limits. It’s the only cryptospace where creativity can flourish in common and be mutually rewarded. It’s also the primary launching pad where creative minds can be well positioned to rise along with this great new wave of artistic and social experimentation which is only now gathering its first force and rising.
