How Blockchain Technology Could Radically Transform Europe (No, Really)

Times of crisis call for radical action and experimentation.

The consensus view among US politicians and Silicon Valley is that technological development will be the catalyst for great changes to humanity and societies.

I don’t agree.

Even if Sam Altman’s wet money dreams come true and America develops “superintelligent AI” chatbots, plus affordable flying cars, humanoid butlers, charter trips to Mars, and more, these inventions are still just gadgets. They won’t change what it essentially means to be a human or a member of society that much.

English philosopher Thomas Hobbes described life in the 17^th century as “nasty, brutish and short”. Nowadays, life is “nasty, brutish, and long”. That is to say, we live longer on average, but most of this extra time we have is spent in a zombie-like mind state scrolling, swiping, and streaming.

Even though we have more technology and longer life spans, societies are structured in much the same way as they were during Hobbes’ lifetime, and long before that. Societies are structured like beehives. A very tiny group of extremely wealthy people enjoy great privileges, while the rest of us directly or (more commonly) indirectly work to maintain their wealth like worker bees sacrificing their labor for the queen bee. The crucial difference is that a queen bee is necessary for the colony’s survival, and worker bees will sacrifice their own lives to protect it. In contrast, we work for tech billionaires, not out of love or survival, but out of structural necessity, since our societies have been restructured around the digital platforms they own.

In general, sophisticated technologies tend to benefit capital holders over wage earners. Specifically, tech billionaires and Trump & Friends are the primary beneficiaries of AI and social media. One could argue that cutting-edge technologies are developed for the very purpose of tightening the elite’s grip on society, leading to no genuine progress, but stagnation (see George Orwell’s 1984). No, great changes to humanity are not coming from the tasteless ideas of our God-forsaken tech leaders. Great changes to humanity will come when the public resentment against the oligarchy and structural inequality grows so strong that we are finally ready to do something about it.

History tells us that oligarchs will not voluntarily renounce their wealth and resources to serve the public good. We have to force them. However, the public can’t force them through violence as in bygone eras, because the oligarchs have access to advanced weapons, military support and can even escape with their families in private jets to luxurious doomsday bunkers if all else fails. Instead, we have to use our minds as weapons and take control of their wealth with our democratic mandates in the political process. In Europe, where laws and democracy still prevail over private interests, we may witness such a revolution occur in the coming years.

On the heels of my essay from last week, The Death of Bitcoin, I want to address a potential application of blockchain technology that could radically change society for the better. Can you guess what it is? I have a specific proposal in mind that I will share with paying subscribers below. Unfortunately, I can’t take credit for coming up with it.