"Flexi Wit The Tech" is a weekly column looking at projects, people, and events shaping the blockchain. All opinions are presented merely for consideration and are not to be taken as legal or financial consultation. It is meant to be a platform to stimulate others to do their own research on blockchain technologies. Please engage accordingly.

Over the past few months I have had a significant portion of my consciousness focused on the future. That's usually a good thing, as long as you don't forsake the needs and responsibilities of the present in the process. While I haven't crossed over to the side of adverse real-time affects, I would readily, and happily, consider myself obsessed with many elements around the technological prospects that are in store over the next decade or two.

As someone who worked in the IT industry for many years, the developments and possibilities around blockchain technology are truly fascinating. The most basic way I typically explain it to people with limited tech knowledge is that it is the Internet 2.0 in how it will bring us all closer together. I'm very aware of how that analogy is simultaneously a glaring over-generalization and a narrow perspective on the real benefits that operations on the blockchain can deliver, but starting with a point of familiarity is often the best entry point to understanding new concepts. Blockchain technology is still in its early stages and is evolving at a rapid rate with new, real-world use cases being implemented on a regular basis.

Decentralization

In the late 90s/early 2000s, the expansion of the internet birthed whole new paradigms of interpersonal connectivity, news, and retail consumption. The concepts and facility of online destinations like Facebook, Amazon, and Ebay are now taken for granted as part of our everyday lives when just over 20 years ago these platforms were not even possible because of technological limitations. Now, these sites are at the apex of online traffic demographics and cater to global communities that are more than ready to engage with them on a 24 hour basis. The entities I listed and many others like them are gateways all focused on connecting people in the name of commerce, communication, promotion, education, or any number of other topics that appeal to humans (and their pets).

But they are all businesses that have specific agendas. And, regardless of the noble intentions that many former start-ups "started up" with, when you start collecting data and profiles on individuals, that information can be used nefariously by any party that has access to it. These businesses are centralized organizations designed to collect data, generate reports, and manifest future profitability to potential investors. Blockchain technology offers the opportunity for our personal profiles and data to be decentralized in a manner that keeps it secure yet accessible to the owners (us) when it is needed.

There are numerous business models being built on the blockchain that are providing the opportunity for organizations to develop decentralized applications or DApps that are taking out that middle business entity and bringing us back to a more level bartering system across global markets. Think of true and trusted peer to peer communication without the need for a middle watch dog. To some that may seem a little intimidating, and the current landscape of blockchain technology has been compared to "the wild west" in a number of justifiable ways. But most of the downswings are growing pains that accompany all forms of emerging technology. Sometimes it's 7 steps forward, 2 steps back. Then 5 more steps forward and 1 step back: progress being continually made, but not without incremental setbacks.

Direction

Over the next few weeks I will be diving into some of the people, projects, and events around blockchain technology that are, in my opinion, shaping the communications and interactions of now and future industries. I think it is clear that blockchain technology is here to stay but is in its truly infantile stages. This will be a major year for technology as a whole by making an exponential leap of sorts towards a new economy of production, consumption, and peer to peer interaction. Stay tuned. Exciting times ahead...