Blockchain Technology and the Future of Politics
Voter turnout has dropped in most Western societies during the past 20 years. Young people are turning to other venues outside of the system to bring about change. With corrupt campaigning and vote counting practices perhaps they have begun to give up. Within this demographic, blockchain technology can surely stand a chance to revolutionize government, politics and democracy as we know it.
Accountability Security and Transparency
Accountability, security and transparency are three things that as a society we have strived for when selecting our voted officials and have been the same things we have been repeatedly denied on a consistent basis almost to the point of apathy. This is why a platform such as the blockchain will surely be a wake up call to the fat cats at the top. Life as we know it as a trodden upon and beat down society will be no more when we convert over to the new system. Finally we will understand that over the past century we have never really known what it is like to live in a functional true democracy.
Crucial Elements of Strong Performance
In a troubled world we need government bodies that are strong, accountable, effective and responsive to the needs and concerns of it's citizens. And how is the blockchain going to facilitate in making this happen? The blockchain is like an open line of communication between each and every citizen in direct response of every item on every agenda that has ever been promised and not fulfilled to the satisfaction of the people. Society will not be lumped together as a whole and placed in box, with the blockchain we will have the power of identity both as individual and special interest groups. The system can cost effectively engage all citizens and provide equal access to resources such as education, health care, and social security.
Transparency and Political Reputations
Data generated through fulfillment of smart contracts, a set of rules set in place to manage assets, can ensure the public our leaders are behaving with integrity. Are our representatives present at all meetings? Are they abiding by thier commitments and promises? Who are the donators of his or her campaigns? Also when a commitment must be negotiated for compromise citizens will be aware of exactly what the issues are and every step of the way they will have a direct vote on whether or not the impact of the comprise is worth the tradeoff in value.
Online Voting Via the Blockchain
A collaborative form of democracy will reward self education and civic engagement via supplimentation similar to that of mining. By being part of the conversation and participating in collective consensus we can earn rewards for time and efforts devoted to betterment of the whole. As a culture is it possible that we could be turned on by the democratic process rather than in a state of constant disgruntlement of the abuse of power and positition?
Manipulating elections is complex business from tampering with results to outright rigging them. Imagine that every candidate has an individual blockchain wallet. Then each citizen would be issued a secure token embedded with their personal data as a means of identification (not available to the public, solely a means of verification) to place in the wallet of the candidate of their choice. The blockchain confirms each transaction security and permanently. Whichever candidate ends up with the most coins wins.
Reference: Tapscott, Don, and Alex Tapscott. 2016. Blockchain revolution: how the technology behind bitcoin is changing money, business, and the world.
I really like the idea of using the blockchain for voting, would make fraud pretty difficult I'd think. My only concern there would be getting people on board to make is a truely decentralized voting blockchain rather than a government owned blockchain.
I'm not sure I understand how smart contracts and your section abount reputation and accountability really tie into what blockchain could do for voting. Are you just saying we could bake in campaign promises into smart contracts to make the candidates keep their promises?
Yes, exactly. The smart contracts could be "baked in" as you mention. Also the participation does not have to stop at the election level. Decisions made from this point forward could be fed back into blockchain as smart contracts with at least of a percentage of the outcome decided by citizens.
The government owned blockchain does concern me, in order for a blockchain to function at an optiimum level it must be decenteralized. Currently the banking industry is undergoing the same issues. Seems these are two institutions that have issues with full transparancy. Makes me wonder if this is the root of the current problems.
Oh absolutely the lack of transparency is a problem. The fact that corporations and large donors can hide behind super pacs and the like is terrible. It would be great if such a process was an open blockchain but, then you have the task of convincing people to run nodes. And in a country (USA) where you have a hard time getting people to even vote, I think it'd be difficult
I have noticed media putting the "fright" into the masses. I enthusiastically share what I am learning about blockchain, smart contracts, IoT and ultimately AI society. They look at me say something absurd like, "Are you not concerned about the Singularity?", the belief that if we will make technology too smart it will somehow gain consciousness. The public needs to be educated. Of course, we know who is controlling the media. It becomes a vicious circle. The next thing you know they will be creating distractions like launching dummies into space in Teslas, oh wait...
The blockchain is here to stay. Cryptocurrencies are not going anywhere. They are designed this way. Little by little society is waking up and when they do everything is in place to move forward. If everything goes awry, Satoshi Nakamoto holds the kill switch, which is his(?) share of a million coins. Fed back into the system they will bring it down overnight. Of course as long as all goes as planned, this will never have to happen.
Oh for sure, I agree with you, the blockchain is an amazing technology. Continue to share, we need people like you to show people that blockchain isn't about elicit dealings and Ponzi scheme. It has some real world use cases.
There's also no doubt the media has a biased viewpoint. I think a lot of times people forget that these companies are here for a profit and fear, hate, murder, terror, all sell page clicks and create discussion. Doesn't matter to them if it's the truth or not. That's where platforms like this come in handy. Just got to make Steemit get Facebook level famous.
Keep up the good work!
Lots of good hope for positive change in this post. I like it. I did hear Richard Heart caution that if voting changes and could be done on a blockchain that votes would gain value. They could become more easily be bought and sold. Similar to what many of the US representatives do with their vote after we elect them to office and cast their votes for us. In reality they meet with lobbyists and adjust their votes accordingly to raise money. Having a measurable vote can be cashed in.
You bring up a very good point. I wonder what a solution could be for this? Perhaps a limit per use? A voter pays a token for the voting slot and when the vote is cast the token is returned to the voter. There will always be naysayers those willing to give up at the first obstacles. That interent thing? It will never take off...
Since reading your comment I have taken some time to listen to Richard Heart, he brings up some very good points about the "value" of cryptocurrency. I always like to hear opinions from all sides. It seems to me that he is extreme anti-crypto and I'm open to his opinions why. Perhaps it will not be everything the hype is making it out to be but at the same time, I don't believe that it is nothing. I have changed my mindset from "We are already there" to "It holds huge potential". If I had a couple million to spare I would probably not invest more than 10% of that right now in crypto, and of that 10 percent it would be going towards AI/Smart contract technology.
I should caution he is a mixed bag. He was for about 6 months preaching as a bitcoin maximalist, but he lost his conviction at the last big crash. Some speculate he was just building a following to get some traction for when he releases his token. IDK, he talks a good talk but it could be high level con. Like yourself keeping my investment to the kind of money that I can afford to lose. Its a bet that might pay off or just evaporate (well get destroyed by the powers that be). Agree on the smart contract tech. Hadn't really looked into the AI investment.
All this is coming from a guy that made his fortune selling Viagra and Mortgage loans online, so yes a grain of salt is required. However, when he started talking about the technical aspects of the blockchains he made sense. Such as how buggy the ethereum blockchain is and why nobody has the trust into switching over to the technology before proper vetting. However his coin is based on this blockchain, so how pessimistic can he be really? I'm glad I had a chance to listen to him speak, thanks so much for your comments. I'm still completely stoked about monetized smart contracts. That I want to be on the ground floor of.