When the Dragon Slayer Becomes the Dragon: Radical Markets Are the Answer?
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, by Mako, published with permission.
I've been thinking a lot lately, from the mainstream culture and big corporations that the hippies opposed in the 60s, to the personal computer and the Internet that greatly increased the boundaries of personal capabilities, to some extent we have achieved great success, but it feels like the world is re-emphasizing On balance, Apple, which gave the big IBM company the middle finger, has also become a big company that slows down your mobile phone through system upgrades, and the "dragon slayer" has become a "dragon".
Worth thinking about:
Why after many resistances, it finally returned to the form of centralized and large companies
Can we fundamentally solve some problems through radical market ideas and blockchain technology, and avoid another dragon slayer from becoming a dragon?
Read the book "Digital Utopia" again, and the time is dialed back to the 90s, anti-mainstream hippies and hackers, all immersed in the joy of the new freedom brought by personal computers and the Internet, which once symbolized centralized, large corporations The computer has become a personal tool, and everyone has the opportunity to master personal rights, which is like a revolutionary success of a generation.
The Declaration of Independence of Cyberspace was also born during this period. The Declaration of Independence of Cyberspace mentioned that through digital technology, we can build a brand new fair world that everyone can enter. Digital technology is a tool to resist bureaucratic structures. Today, science fiction often mentions looking back in 2020. We have digitized enough things and moved them to the Internet. Big data and AI are accelerating our digitization process, but we don’t seem to have reached the height of freedom. , our data and behavior are still being monitored by large companies.
The author of "Digital Utopia" mentioned the "Declaration of Cyberspace Independence" issued by John Barlow in 1996, a digital world without material entities; but did not mention the "Cypherpunk Manifesto" published in 1993, which advocated the use of cryptographic methods , Encrypt all our Internet behaviors: sending emails, digital signatures and using encrypted digital currencies.
Some may see this as a radical idea that individuals need to keep their own private keys, which are used to encrypt personal data, or some may think that many of the services we use are encrypted, chat software like Facebook Messenger will tell you , you can choose end-to-end encryption, but they did not tell you that the private key that symbolizes the ownership of your data and your personal assets is not in your hands. Although your information will not be monitored by a third party, your data belongs to the platform and is not your asset.
In 2008, cypherpunk ushered in a key figure, the mysterious Satoshi Nakamoto. Bitcoin provides a good solution for the encrypted digital currency that the cypherpunk community has been exploring, and solves the problem of double spending of digital currency through PoW mining. Of course, the entire cypherpunk has also experienced an era of stigma. For the general public, it is associated with the black industry and the unfair market. Up to now, the blockchain technology extended from the blockchain is being recognized and accepted by more and more people.
After all this, we ushered in a new infrastructure - Ethereum (a blockchain platform for running decentralized applications) and a breakthrough idea - "Radical Market". Radical Markets has a chapter devoted to the idea of a data labor market, where data production is also a job and should be compensated. Following the idea of the radical market, everyone does not need to worry about being taken away by AI in the future, because if AI wants to be smarter, it needs more data, especially the real personal data of each of us. If we join forces, such as using encryption By managing personal data in a unique way, you can negotiate with large companies and turn your own data into assets without worrying about losing your source of income due to being robbed of your job by AI. Ethereum is the prototype that I can see now. It allows personal digital assets and data to truly return to the hands of individuals.
Many people may still feel that the concept of blockchain or the hype of Bitcoin is greater than the actual use. Whether this judgment is objective is another matter. My real concern is that blockchain will be held back by stigma. Many people may not know that using Ethereum can now participate in decentralized financial management and cross-border remittances, which were originally monopolized by large financial institutions. It was previously unimaginable that individuals could run a bank, but now Ethereum provides a Bankless tool, and developers can use smart contracts to develop financial services (such as: Compound).
The Internet has accelerated the efficiency of information dissemination, making the cost of setting up a media outlet extremely low for individuals, without the need to erect signal receiving towers across the country. This is what we refer to as Web2.0. In this era, everyone can be a media. Also in this era, there is a problem that data is controlled by a few large companies. They provide free services and take away users' personal data. The personal data we pay for is more expensive than the services we get for free.
In the Internet + blockchain, we may reach Web3.0, which can solve the problem of personal data and protect personal assets and data in an encrypted way. At this time, we need to change the concept of free. If you decentralize your data to a third party, you should pay; similarly, when others need to use your personal data, you should ask for your authorization and submit You pay. In this way, everyone has the motivation to provide computing power, and it is possible for us to enter a decentralized way.
