It is hard to envision exactly how powerful blockchain is going to be. Since we are in the early stages, it is easy to focus upon what it cannot do as opposed to the opportunity presented. Change is difficult for the human mind to envision yet what we are witnessing is truly life changing for the entire planet.
Blockchain has one core asset that makes it extremely powerful.
Blockchain = Trust
The trust mechanism of blockchain puts it in a position to take over a large segment of the global economy. This is something that the established entities are aware of. It is also why we see them taking steps to prevent it getting out of their control.
This, of course, creates an oxymoron. The value of blockchain and the reason for the trust is because nobody controls it. Taking this technology and centralizing it makes it impotent.
Jason Potts of RMT University in Australia took a look at the potential of blockchain. By focusing upon those areas where trust was a core issues, auditing, identity validation, due diligence, etc, he found that amounts to $27T.
“As the fastest moving technology the world has ever seen, Blockchain is going to impact on the global economy in several ways in coming years,” Prof. Potts, who is the university’s Director of the Blockchain Innovation Hub, says at an RMIT Europe event in Barcelona on Wednesday Feb. 27.
“Some organisations will be bigger as a result while some get smaller,” he adds, describing blockchain as an institutional technology that is rare and the last of generational discoveries with massive impacts on humans in the category of watch, joint stock company and democracy. He explains the shift:
“Blockchain changes the way to organise economies. It is the new economic infrastructure; the foundation for consensus about social truth. Blockchain is a new institutional economic mechanism – not only for human to human coordination but for human to machine coordination. The main shift is that it allows, for the first time, machines to be agents in economic transactions.”
https://news.8btc.com/blockchain-stands-to-capture-one-third-of-global-economy-cost
Blockchain coupled with cryptocurrency is providing the world with crypto-economics. This is a new formation of economies that are going to alter how commerce, collaboration, and production takes place.
What part of the $27T basket will Steem occupy? I believe that being one of the blockchains with activity on it is a shot in the arm. We see actual development taking place with the formation of an ecosystem. As the industry, in general, moves forward, Steem is well positioned to ride that way. Again, if we look through the world through the "blockchain is a major force" glasses, the possibilities for this ecosystem grows.
The key is to consistently keep growing in all areas.
This is not going to be an overnight success. Amazon did not take the retail world by storm. It started simply as an online bookstore and lost money for more than a decade. Yet, one day, the world woke up and realize that Amazon was destroying one of the largest sectors. The retail industry is still dealing with all the fall out.
There is a saying that futurists tend to abide by:
We tend to over estimate a technology in the short term while under estimating it in the long term.
Where will Steem be in 6 months or a year should not be the focus. Where will it be in 10 years is a better way of looking at things. We are involved in a process that is providing a compounding effect. Since it is all interconnected, one activity has an impact on many levels. Adding the time component, we can see that the longer we look, the greater the totality of activity.
This is what exponential growth is.
The effects over the short term are not too noticeable. We see margin effects that, while measurable, are not too impressive. An example of this is a few thousands new accounts earning Steem Power. It is nice yet with 7B people on the planet, it amounts to nothing.
Fast forward a couple years, this number could be thousands of new accounts earning SP each week. This provides a greater impact on the ecosystem as a result.
I have the Vision 2025 pictures posted at the end of each of my articles. I do that to remind everyone, including myself, that we need to focus upon the long term. We are dealing with societal changing technology that will alter the path of humanity. This is not an overnight process.
One of the biggest challenges is not the technological mishaps or waiting for development. That will go faster than it is accepted. Human resistance is the biggest challenge. That is what always slows down technological progress.
Our lack of willingness to change is what prevents massive adoption overnight.
This is a marathon, so let us stop acting like it is a sprint.
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