The paradigm shift to lean and digital consumption

This morning I posted about the economic systems changing and I thought I would add a little more thought onto that piece to bring in something that I think is another way in which blockchain is going to drive traditional economies into various types of volatility.

It is pretty obvious that companies make their income and therefore take their power from the way we consume, the demands we have and as a result of "at any cost", the environment has suffered in many ways and while the earth doesn't care, we as a species can only live under a narrow set of conditions comfortably. But, even while we keep consuming, the capital model will look to reduce their expenditure and that means discovering ways to minimize their material costs.

While everything bigger in Texas, things in general are getting smaller and using less base components to produce with things like the massive entertainment systems of the 90s being consolidated into a soundbar, a flatscreen, a Netflix subscription and an internet connection. No more VCR, no more DVD player, no more massive speakers. Even the drive for computing has been pushed to minimize material resources into phones and tablets for many people.

As I noted in the other post, some of the largest profit driven companies in the world do not produce very much that is tangible, that can be held in the hand directly. Facebook, Google, Microsoft, and even Apple are gateways of information with the products themselves being tools used to direct the flows. This drive for profit by minimizing resources required to produce income could eventually be not only their downfall, but the change toward a better, leaner and cleaner world. But again, it is a paradigm shift.

Just think about the "Lambo!" catch cry of the stereotyped crypto millionaire and how passe that now sounds. Sure, people might want that Lamborghini but at some point it no longer holds the status it once did, especially in a world of self-driving cars that halt the ability to speed by becoming rolling street cameras through their sensors. Not only that, they will deliver cheap micro-pay taxis, so while a car might be a luxury, it is also ultimately useless.

But, the drive for unique, scarce and our desire for status means that we are going to be looking for replacements and while the current position might be to add material items of consumption, the future is much more likely to come through digital scarcity and exclusivity. This is where the blockchains come into their own.

As I wrote a few weeks ago about how I explained digital currencies to a client to the point he realized that they are virtually physical like land, blockchain and tokenization brings the ability for the ownership of the digitally unique, scarce and exclusive. While Bitcoin requires relatively large amounts of energy to mine, it is actually not required in order for a digital asset to hold value, as we at Steem know.

Blockchain and crypto brings in the possibility to verify authenticity in much the same way an appraiser would look at a Da Vinci and make sure it is not a forgery, without requiring to trust the skills of the appraiser or the quality of the forgery. Non-fungible tokens (NFTs) will soon start to change the way the entire world thinks about ownership and what holds value.

Crypto people already know that unless the Key is in your hand, it doesn't belong to you, but soon the entire world will start looking into the way they own and what they own. This will be further driven by a reduction in traditional work through automation and AI, social cultures shifting away from wasteful consumption and ownership and of course - the drive for companies to reduce their material costs even further.

As this shift of what is ownable changes from material to digital, the providers of the material consumables that don't offer utility could start to suffer and when they do, the entire supply chains start to feel the pressure. Just think about all those resources and processes that go into creating that 500,000 dollar Lambo! and imagine what happens when a hundred million people instead are vying for 1 of 100 Steemmonster cards or like I bought last night, some Gods Unchained cards.

Even though it is early days still, digital ownership is on the rise and I believe it is going to fundamentally change the way in which we consume our resources by redefining what is important to own and what provides status. For a Steem example, if there were 100 million users today and the entire supply was split evenly between, each could have a total of 3.275 STEEM. Even with only 10 million users, there would only be 32.75 Steem for each. How much is in your wallet?

While people think that we need hundreds of millions of users to make Steem valuable, that is not actually the case, we just need it to be very desirable. While now people might want a Lamborghini, the future isn't going to be able to support an endless increase in material consumption and more and more what is desirable and brings status becomes what is digital, unique, scarce, exclusive and, the currencies that buy them.

We are entering into a world where prosperity can increase through an endless expansion of digital real estate that adds value to our world in what it can provide, the entertainment value, the status of unique, the ability to trade, mobility and of course, the power and control that ownership brings. This paradigm shift is in our minds and is driven by our choices as consumers and eventually, the world will change.

For the first time in history, we have a technology that empowers us to own without having to rely on the massive operations and supply chains of the conglomerates and instead, we can drive supply and demand down the blockchains we own instead.

Taraz
[ a Steem original ]