Today, it is impossible to think of cryptocurrencies as a separate industry tinkering in its own sandbox, as it has been for many years. The starting point for crypto to enter the big world is 2020, the year of the start of the coronavirus pandemic and the further total reformatting of the usual way of things.
Technology awareness – this is, first of all, an understanding of what technologies are, what impact they can have on our ecosystem and consciousness, on humans as a species.
For example, many of those reading this text are well acquainted with the mantras memorized by startups in all countries about how the blockchain will free everyone, eliminate intermediaries and teleport humanity to a better version of the future. However, this technology, like any other, has multiple uses. And can be used in different ways.
It is no secret that blockchain can become one of the technological bases of the “digital concentration camp.” And if we consider it in conjunction with artificial intelligence and quantum data teleportation technologies (which will inevitably change the speed and principles of operation of the global network), then this is an ideal set for building a fully controlled, transparent socio-economic environment in which corruption is eliminated along with people and everything decisions are made automatically. This doesn’t even require a full-fledged, self-aware AI. A set of neural networks and algorithms is enough to create a perfectly controlled environment. And in the modern world there are already examples of how social rating systems are created using blockchain and AI, in which there is no one to pay bribes for access to social benefits.
Human nature has been such that for most of recorded history, we have been inventing and integrating technologies that are incompatible with our ecosystem. These technologies are known to be toxic and harmful to the environment and Homo sapiens as a species. Not only internal combustion engines, but also modern electric cars are not as harmless as it seemed at first glance. The big question is the further disposal of lithium-ion batteries and its consequences for the ecosystem. The same thing applies to digital technologies.
Metaverses, avatars in virtual worlds – this is what humanity has been dreaming and talking about for thousands of years. Once upon a time, their place in people’s heads was occupied by pantheons of deities and mythical creatures. Already in the 20th century, humanity began to dream of having an avatar in virtual reality and being anyone in a variety of fictional worlds. And, in principle, we have already reached the point where virtual reality is replacing physical reality. How much time a day do you spend in digital worlds? Probably more than 10 hours out of 24. This applies to any interaction you have with devices, social networks, etc. But there is an important detail that can be observed in any major metropolis. And don’t even pay any attention to it.
It lies in the fact that many people have long existed in material reality much less than in virtual reality. Some of them are avatars for forms of life that have not yet been described and clearly defined – digital entities. They were created by people themselves in the form of accounts on social networks, etc. And modern man puts a lot of effort into serving the needs of his digital being. How many hours a week do you devote to your Instagram account? This is an illustration of what information technology becomes in the hands of people living beyond technological awareness. They turn out to be instruments of absorption and often destructive transformation of a person.
Therefore, in a society that is not technologically aware, metaverses do not involve teleporting people digitally. On the contrary, we are waiting for the placement of numbers in our bodies with the further replacement of an outdated biological species with new forms of life. Will man be the creator of these new forms of life, or will he himself gradually turn into a creation of machines?
Gamified post-capitalism
Post-capitalism in this case means any socio-economic system following capitalism. And gamification is not about everyone having fun and living life playfully, it’s about yet another virtualization of reality.
The virtualization of thinking and awareness has already occurred during the technological progress of the last 30 years, which was accompanied primarily by the spread of the Internet. The virtualization of assets and property rights has been happening since the advent of the Bitcoin network. Socio-economic virtualization also occurs through this. What completed and working systems will look like depends on the characteristics of a particular region of the planet.
Somewhere this new socio-economic system will be deployed within the framework and boundaries of states with complete centralization. Governments in them will be the owners and managers of all virtual assets that are only formally owned by citizens.
Somewhere it will be similar to the corporate states of the future with their own currencies (or many of them) and competitions between economic agents for the title of best employee of the month/year with the introduction of appropriate incentives. Offshore zones will appear somewhere in which both state and corporate virtual assets and digital assets free from control will be freely traded.
All these systems have one thing in common: there will no longer be money in its usual form and understanding. Instead, there will be many different financial instruments created for specific purposes.
In the end, for a resident of a gamified post-reality, there is no difference between paying bills: with a digital dollar, bitcoin, worldcoin or tokens tied to real estate/gold/oil/food. Much more important for a resident of a gamified reality will be the practice of technological awareness and self-identification (who am I?). Because without the first, a person ceases to be himself and becomes an algorithm. Without the second, it is impossible to integrate and build relationships with other participants in the new socio-economic system.
Robots, algorithms, AI: the rights of machines and other digital life forms
In the design of a gamified post-capitalist reality, it is important to pay special attention to robots, algorithms, AI, neural networks, etc. Apparently, the spiral of progress will inevitably lead us to the creation of artificial quantum consciousness, which will probably become Real AI.
However, even if we consider already available technologies, many algorithms and neural networks can seriously compete with a person not only in work activity, but also in understanding reality, and possibly in self-awareness. Understanding that a person will live with machines, work with them, build a family and even raise children, it is important to define these relationships from a legal point of view. And now one of the most important discussions in the technology industry is the rights of machines, algorithms and robots. Someone may point out their lack of subjectivity, but, in my opinion, this is a convention. Because the majority of modern people do not possess subjectivity as such. However, each of them has rights.
It is impossible to repeat with machines what people did to their own kind during the era of colonization, turning entire continents into slave labor, through which the world’s largest capitals were formed in the first place. What is the secret of corporations? Almost always, it is not a matter of high-tech production, but of the use of labor, which costs a dollar a day or even less. And the results of labor already in institutional and legal markets are valued at hundreds, or even thousands of dollars. This is what laid the foundation for a huge number of socio-political problems that are faced and will be faced even more by those who at some point decided that the inhabitants of colonized countries have no subjectivity.
In the case of machines, a technologically conscious approach would be to recognize the rights and freedoms of all algorithms, AI, and robots involved in the economic and social spheres. However, this will not happen in the near future.
One can even imagine a scenario in which part of humanity enters into a symbiotic and equal relationship with machines and decolonizes the world. What is needed to give machines rights and freedoms? This requires fundamental ethics or even a new religious and philosophical system – for machines, people and future forms of life.
Instead of completion
Everything described above can be considered as some kind of futurology, a vision of the future. Although most of this is already a reality for most readers, even if this thesis does not seem obvious. Time will determine what name the gamified post-capitalism we are already in will receive.
Whether technology awareness becomes a mainstream approach to interacting with and integrating technology into life also depends on many factors. One thing is clear: the development and integration of the technology stack of the new reality has been completed and, contrary to the expectations of many, cryptocurrencies are a tool of total control (for the sake of everyone’s security), which will become most effective after the mass introduction of digital IDs.
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