The invention of the computer exponentially accelerated the age of information. Governments and financial institutions began planning to revolutionize money for the future. The first stages of this transformation came in the form of debit cards and digital banking. Magnetic strips on our payment cards carried small bits of data into swiping terminals so an account could be verified. This technology quickly scaled to a global level because of how superior it was. Humanity has reached a new threshold in technology and a new system using blockchain begs to be scaled up as well.
How does blockchain technology work?
Blockchain technology is an idea that stems from the world of cryptocurrency. A blockchain is defined as: a shared, immutable ledger that facilitates the process of recording transactions and tracking assets in a business network. In practical terms, it’s a de-centralized network made up of many small parts that verify one another and allow for faster exchanges of data.
Taming government with honesty
Government agencies can easily track our traditional bank cards. Freezing the assets of political dissidents is entirely possible as well. An excellent example is the January 6th ‘insurrection’. D.C. police let patriots into the capital. Bank accounts froze before most made it home. As if protesting election discrepancies is a crime worth luring citizens into entrapment. We saw this same authoritarian justification used by Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau in February of this year. Truckers of the north made their feelings clear when they protested vaccine mandates for the industry. Trudeau wasted no time giving himself emergency powers that allowed him to freeze innocent civilians accounts. Unjustifiable arrests occurred to most of the leaders of the ‘Freedom Convoy’. Their bail money was completely unavailable.
The ironically named ‘American Rescue Plan Act’ signed in March of this year targets Americans’ minor purchases to regulate as much commerce as possible. The government tracking your purchases means they can quell any efforts of revolting against tyranny. With blockchain technology as it is now, government oversight is close to impossible. This is exactly what pioneers in the field wanted as they developed this technology. Decentralized money networks allow for safer verification, as well as full audits. Governments cannot deny the superiority of this technology. Many in power are actively seeking to control this new technology. The plans announced at the World Economic Forum in Davos this year highlighted these intentions. World leaders hope to remove the ability to audit government spending, which is one of the most positive things blockchain promises the citizens of Earth.
How else can decentralized technology help?
Finances aren’t the only way that decentralized technology would change the world for the better. With blockchain verifications, we could completely revolutionize the voting system for democratic communities. An amber alert notifies every phone within a designated area simultaneously. This simple function indicates that our phones are capable of bringing us together in unprecedented ways.
Imagine if the citizens of the United States of America were given a 30 minute break on voting day. We could have resources linked to candidates in a decentralized network that shares their true positions. Furthermore, we could vote instantaneously and counting would take seconds. Open-source records would be accessible to all. Plus our phones could act as verification of our identity! This would make cheating nearly impossible in elections. Analysts would have complete data that could show ideological demographics, voting trends, and so much more!
With such a quick and efficient voting system, changes could happen within communities remarkably fast. Additionally, AI technology could potentially improve this system as well! We could utilize artificial intelligence to run simulations on new laws that society wants to approve. Data could indicate exactly how changing one cog in the machine would affect countless others. In a world with decentralized technology, many government jobs would become redundant. Further removing greed and power struggles from the people who are sworn to protect us. We have the technology, so what are we waiting for?
By Triston Bowman
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Council on Foreign Relations: Canada’s Trucker Protests: What to Know About the ‘Freedom Convoy’
Top and Featured Image Courtesy of Credit: BeatingBetting.co.uk‘s Flickr Page
