What should I write in my first post on Steemit? Hmmm… Since Steemit is built on blockchain, this makes me feel that I should write something about blockchain. Ok, let me briefly discuss why I believe blockchain is the driven technology in the fourth industrial revolution.
First, let’s take a step back to see what happened in the previous three industrial revolutions. The first industrial revolution, generally dated from 1760 to somewhere between 1820 and 1840, was primarily driven by steam power. As a result, many hand production methods were replaced by machines. What does this mean apparently? Efficiency increases! The second industrial revolution, generally dated between 1870 and 1914, was characterized by electrification. For example, with electric motors, automobiles and airplanes were invented. We can now fly from North America to Asian in ten hours by airplanes. What does this mean? Efficiency increases! The third industrial revolution, which is currently ongoing, is changing the world to digital. With the invention of Internet, we can now send emails within minutes instead of mailing letters in a postal office, which takes days to deliver. What does this mean? Efficiency increases! Therefore, I believe that anything that is able to significantly increase the efficiency of the human society will dramatically change the world.
So how about blockchain? To keep it short, blockchain builds a decenteralized world and builds trust among people. For example, using bitcoin we can send money directly to someone globally within few minutes. If we do this by traditional bank wire transfer, it takes days or even weeks and the cost is much higher. As a result, cryptocurrency is a dramatic increase of efficiency. Such money transfer via cryptocurrency is possible due to the fact that the blockchain technology builds trust among people so that we don’t need a bank to be in the middle in this process. Without an agent in between, people still can directly do business with each other with trust. This is a dramatic efficiency increase and changes the traditional world.
We are at the beginning of the fourth industrial revolution. Similar as the previous industrial revolutions, any technology that is able to significantly increase efficiency will be the driven force in the fourth industrial revolution. What are these technologies? My thinking is Artificial Intelligence, Virtual Reality and Blockchain!
I might write another post on artificial intelligence. But now this is all for this post. Any comments are welcome.
