Shifting Away From a Zero-Sum-Game World: My Extreme Take on Blockchain and Its Societal Implications
The hype around blockchain is real.
What was initially regarded as another tool for geeks and nerds is slowly asserting its role in the contemporary society. Mainly pushed by the incredible rise of the price of Bitcoin, more and more people are trying to get into this gold rush.
However, many are interested in the technology and what it can provide to our ever-changing society. Many blockchain-based applications and projects are blossoming, some of them with the potential to disrupt and improve the current way of running our world.
Finance and economics are obviously the first applications that come to mind, allowing for the decentralization and the freedom to conduct transactions without the need for intermediaries.
However, this is only the tip of the iceberg.
Other applications worth mentioning are:
-Healthcare
-Music and Art
-Government and Identity
-Insurance
-Sharing Economy
-Internet of Things
-Loyalty programs
Really interesting, for sure. I advise you to research the possible ramifications by yourself.
The aim of this article, however, is to focus on the social impact that such diversified applications can have. I believe that they can fundamentally alter our current way of running our society. Blockchain can be what Kuhn (1962) describes as a paradigm shift: “a fundamental change in the basic concepts and experimental practices of a scientific discipline”. Of course, as he also argues, this is an intrinsically revolutionary process that requires huge efforts and seldom happens overnight.
What will the impact be?
Let’s start by laying down some of the principles governing our current world!
THE CURRENT WAY OF DOING STUFF
Allow me to speculate on the current tenants on which our society is based. This article is further from the final truth you’re looking for, but I wish to stress certain points that I believe are important. The arguments made in this article are extreme, I know, and some of them are hard to back at the moment, given the current level of development of blockchain-based solutions.
Ours is cruel world, a pseudo-Darwinian product where only the fittest survive. Life is hard and the majority of people are squeezed by the relentless pressure of bills and of being able to provide for their family. This has unleashed a race to the top, where financial prosperity seems to be the only solution for our problems. Individualism prevails: we don’t have time to get to know each other and to waste precious hours in unproductive activities. Resources are scarce, why should we think about other people’s well-being? We can barely make it ourselves!
The system as a whole is built to favour so; and really, I don’t blame people for acting like this! It is not their fault, scarcity and economic pressure are undeniably having a huge influence on their behaviour.
We really live in a zero-sum-game world, a society in which each participant’s gain or loss is balanced by the losses or gains or the utility of other participants. The most beautiful and complicated creation, man, is often reduced as a selfish actor who strives to maximize its utility, regardless of the others.
WHAT CAN BLOCKCHAIN DO?
While I do not believe that blockchain is the final solution to all of our problems, for the first time in recent history – after the internet - we are witnessing the development of a tool that could change the underlying architecture of our society. The dynamics put in place by this technology could have a much greater impact that to just replace banks or decentralize our economy. Whilst no one knows how or to what extend the development of this technology will affect our society, this article adopts an extreme standpoint: namely that blockchain technology will lead to a full-blown paradigm shift.
It could fundamentally reduce the ever growing individualism experience by western society and move our society towards a more trusting and egalitarian society.
How will it do so? Simply by prizing good behaviour.
Blockchain enables us to radically expand the range of areas in which we can successfully apply incentives for good behaviour. This subject is called mechanisms design, dedicated to studying how it is possible to design incentives to have actors behave in socially desirable way. This articles does a much better job at explaining it, I will only use this concept instrumentally, in order to make my argument.
By having clear the desirable outcomes we wish to attain, we can work to design incentives that can be instrumental to drive actors to behave towards those outcomes. I know, it sounds abstruse and complicated, but it is not. What I am really talking about is a system that shifts away from the zero-sum-game and the common win-lose situation, to a more appropriate win-win situations, where actors can cooperate in order to attain common goals and thus benefits. We either win or lose together.
By putting the appropriate incentives in place, we can build a system that rewards good behaviour. We need to evolve into an anti-Darwinian society, where people cooperate to attain common goals and where they all manage to benefit. Cryptoeconomic systems are fundamentally new ways to do so, and their potential is massive.
Let’s not get into the rational/not-rational man discussion, we don’t really care about formalities or scientific debates. What we know for sure is that such systems will be an important step to make people behave in desired way. By doing so, people will be able to catch two birds with one stone: getting rewarded for good behaviour and also contributing to the greater good of our society.
HARD TO GRASP?
A practical example can be the actual working of charities: we often have to go through complicated bureaucratic organizations in order to help the less fortunate. Furthermore, we do not know where our money goes and the impact it has. We don’t have a link to those we help and we often think that it is enough to give money away, in order to put our conscience at rest and sleep happily. With blockchain we would not need such intermediaries anymore; you could directly help people to have a loan or to build wells and schools. You could have a say in how the money is spent and you could audit that your money is not wasted, while at the same time getting a – fair - return on your loan. Furthermore, you could gain points for being a nice guy and helping other people’s lives.
Another example could regard cars on a highway. If I’m in a hurry and need to speed up, I could pay you tokens to ask if you can move on the other lane, so that I can arrive on time.
These are really small examples and they do not allow us to grasp the full extent to which such incentives can be applied.
CONCLUSION..
Unfortunately, most of the claims I’m currently making are extreme and they cannot be fully backed, as the technology doesn’t allow so.
However, I am fully confident that the future will look much more different that our current reality.
Slowly and implicitly blockchain can revolutionize the way we deal with each other. It can move us away from our ego and from our indifference towards others. It can lead us to a world where sharing economy is not only a hipster term for Silicon Valley entrepreneurs, but rather a way of living.
What’s best? Nobody has nothing to lose in doing so!
What do you think? Do you agree?
DISCLAIMER: The implications are much bigger and this article is far from complete. However, I hope to have sparked interesting thoughts in your mind! If you have any other implications that you believe I should add to this article, feel free to comment below! Your opinion is fundamental and even small feedback can really help me out.
May the blockchain be with you!