The start of the blockchain revolution
The future of the information age in which we live looks to be increasingly dominated by blockchain based innovations. The blockchain movement was started with Satoshi Nakamoto's introduction of the blockchain based Bitcoin cryptocurrency which incorporated an immutable distributed decentralized ledger. The blockchain innovation in the currency sector seemed to have noble motives of increased privacy, secure trade, stable or even increasing value, and the freedom of the individual from countless middlemen in the case of central banks. Bitcoin allowed the individual to become his own bank and control his financial destiny or at least that was the hope.
Where blockchain may be headed and why we need to be cautious
Bitcoin may have been blockchain 1.0 but we are now moving well beyond that as nearly every industry is grasping the power and genius of blockchain technology. Blockchain tech has the potential to eliminate jobs such as bankers and lawyers with distributed ledger technology and smart contract technology, and that's the good news. The bad news is that it will probably cost many other professions their jobs at some point. This is not a reason in itself to steer clear of blockchain technology. Productivity increases and jobs are lost. At some point the world will seriously need to consider the mercy and genius of some type of universal basic income (UBI) but that is a subject for a different post. What looks to be concerning is how blockchain tech originally implemented by the Cypherpunk movement who wanted above all to protect privacy is now barreling towards a future where every single interaction we have with ANYTHING is cataloged and recorded to some type of immutable blockchain ledger, never to be forgotten.
Why should this concern us?
When we are children we very often make mistakes. We learn by burning our hand when we touch the stove usually not because someone didn't tell us not to but because we made the mistake ourselves and only learned through trial and error. This learning process continues as we go through life. Many people may get mixed up with the wrong crowd for a short period of their life and end up with some type of criminal record. We can be callous and judge and dismiss them as inferior types of people or we can accept the fact that it is an innate human trait to learn from actually making mistakes. It wasn't that long ago that a person could simply move to a different state in order to start a new life full of fresh possibility. The digital information age has made that a heck of a lot more difficult but it isn't etched into our flesh or following us everywhere to the same degree that will occur once blockchain technology proliferates every aspect of commerce and government.
There are Initial Coin Offerings and startups for all manner of distributed ledger blockchain applications from storing our identity more "securely", capitalizing on capturing our attention, having our health records follow us no matter which doctor or hospital we may visit, and many more helpful innovations, but where is all of this innovation converging?
It looks to be converging as was said earlier, to a future where every single interaction we have with ANYTHING is cataloged and recorded to some type of immutable blockchain ledger, never to be forgotten.
"You can beg for forgiveness but your sins will never be forgotten." -Mankind
If you found any value in this post please consider sharing or upvoting, thank you