It is no secret that the present financial and economic system is not working for the vast majority of the population. When you look at the plight of humanity, especially in light of the progress that was made the last 30 years, we see a wide section of people who are still lacking far behind. Sadly, this group only appears to be growing.
There is little doubt, in the West, the middle class is being carved out. The reasons for this are many and beyond the scope of this article. So, while we saw large numbers of people moved out of poverty, the next level up was also filled with more people sliding down the scale.
Many cite our present system as the cause. No matter what the makeup, either economically or politically, we see similar results. Thus, we have to conclude it is more than just a system. This makes sense since any system is only as good as the people involved. Hence, they are not immune to the vagrancies of human tendencies.
Unfortunately, many of these are nefarious, causing pain for millions of people.
Could cryto-economics and all that goes along with it be the solution that humanity was truly looking for?
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Going forward, we are going to need an economic model that creates a couple different things:
- increased productivity through technology
- a better means to distribute the financial benefits of that.
Everyone wants their lives to improve each year. This is natural and in keeping with the concept of evolution. Hence, increasing productivity is vital for this end. If we do not have massive growth, we end up with the inequality that we witnessed over the past 20 years. Since the ownership of production is in the hands of a few, the scarcity model is inevitable. The rest are simply left with less.
This does not mean, however, they are falling behind overall. When we look at what most people have now, compared to 40 years ago, there is literally no comparison. The lowest end automobile has features that were not even available on the most expensive car in the 1980s. As technology advances, everyone benefits albeit not evenly.
One of the ways to improve this situation is to push productivity to absurd levels. This does not mean producing simply for the sake of producing. What it means is that, through automation, achieving ends that were pipe-dreams decades earlier.
We saw this take place in the financial arena. Look at the amount of stock that is traded each day compared to 4 decades ago. Computerization pushed the numbers to insane levels. High frequency trading and other "robo" models make up the bulk of that volume. Humans have little to do with it.
Of course, the biggest issue is that the financial benefits are only in the hands of a few. This system lacks inclusion.
Fortunately, technology is going to mirror what took place in the financial arena. Over the next couple decades, productivity is going to skyrocket due to AI and robotics. Automation is coming whether we like it or not. The downside is that it will cost jobs, a situation the world has not adjusted to yet. However, the upside is tremendous, far outweighing the negative.
This does not resolve the distribution issue though. If we follow the same pathway, we are going to end up with a much larger pie that is equally exclusive. The vast percentage of the global population is going to suffer, on an even greater level.
Here is where crypto-economics enters the picture. We are starting to see the foundation whereby both factors can be addressed.
Cryptocurrency projects are starting to distribute more wealth to the masses. As more individuals get involved, they have the ability to be rewarded in coins/tokens. Once they have a few resources, they are able to put them to work, through DeFi applications, to generate a greater return.
While still in its infancy, we can see the onset of a new model that will allow for funding of projects that were previously overlooked. The Venture Capital world is still very centralized, again creating an exclusive environment.
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Crypto-economics offers a system that is the exact opposite. Here we see the ability for anyone to be involved. This means that "ownership" can spread much wider. Through tokenization, projects can be fractionalize into very small units. It is a process that allows entry for even those with the most meager of resources.
For many, the most important thing is just getting started. The fact they were excluded means they simply did not have a chance. Crypto-economics offers that to them.
It is hard for people to envision what is coming. Our linear thinking means that we have issues grasping the magnitude of the moves that are taking place. We can see it in hindsight but even that does not give us a true idea of where things are going.
Some of the biggest areas of bottleneck, in terms of production, are about to be kicked into high gear. Industries such as healthcare, construction, and upper level education have not followed the paths of the manufacturing and financial sectors. This is about to change.
Once that happens, we are going to see costs plummet. In those industries, we are either at, or near, peak costs per unit. Over the next couple decades, technology is guaranteed to obliterate all that is taking place within those realms.
Increasing productivity while reducing costs is a win-win. The challenge comes back to who is really benefiting financially. Sure, it is great if the price of things comes down yet, if one has no resources, cheap is still out of range.
We need the financial benefits better distributed. Crypto-economics does this. Instead of the same old corporations and their stockholders getting the lion's share of the proceeds, we can see tokenomics spreading things much wider. By incorporating new structures such as the DAO, we reduce some of the human characteristics from the system that caused so many problems.
As we innovate and delve further into the models being created, we can begin to see how crypto-economics is providing us with a system that could provide us with what we need. The present system of scarcity is quickly becoming obsolete. Since our world is becoming more digital, we are see a paradigm shift emerging. No longer do we need an economic and financial system build upon scarcity.
Instead, abundance is going to be the new norm. Just look at what took place in the financial industry to see what is coming to most other ones.
The problem remains who is mostly benefiting. This is where a new system is required.
Crypto-economics is this system that provides the solutions that are needed.
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