Brave Blockchain World: Utopia or Dystopia?

Effects of an Utopia and its Shadow: Robotics, Society, and Nature.

Keywords: Blockchain, Technology, Science Fiction, Utopia, Dystopia, Society, Robotics, Moore’s Law, Democratic Socialism, Eusocial, Altruistic Suicide

The wonderful world of science fiction has been a long been the vehicle full of encouragement and trepidation for the evolution of the consanguinity between our society and technology. From Heinlein’s lunar humor loving supercomputer Mike, with its subversive alter-ego 'Adam Selene’ to Cameron and Hurd’s zero empathy artificial intelligence terminators run by Skynet, we have been exposed to a wide spectrum of how technology’s capacity can affect society. Asimov’s rules of robotics promote harmony of Man working with Machine, while the Wachowski brothers' Matrix exemplifies the strengths and weaknesses per each through an eternal war governed by the machine. As Moore’s law held its rate from 1975 until around 2012, we have also observed the exponential proliferation of technology in our society.

”There is an art to science, and a science in art; the two are not enemies, but different aspects of the whole.” -Isaac Asimov

Due to the exponential rate of advances in our technology, we are nearly concurrent with the science fiction of the past century. It is as if these great writers willed their story to eventuate. Of course, we are not there as of yet, but we can begin to draw parallels.

• Orwell’s Big Brother (1984) and the NSA.
• Asimov’s robots (iRobot) and the automation and or improved efficiencies laborious tasks.
• Asimov’s The Foundation and Steemit...kidding the internet as a whole.
• Heinlein's lunar supercomputer and IBM’s Watson

”Now that we have the first workings of the blockchain available us, what will our Orwells, Huxleys, and Asimovs bring forth?”

These writers obviously had no idea that these technologies such as the internet or Watson would be presented as they are today, but they only had computers most of us would be nonplus to operate. Nevertheless, they were able to conceptualize these technologies in the settings of their novels. Now that we have the first workings of the blockchain available us, what will our Orwells, Huxleys, and Asimovs bring forth?

We must face the facts that computers can be better than humans at most things.

To name a few: driving, resource management, continuously work, not being bumptious. The Matrix alludes that the only superior trait humans have is our ability to choose. The story depicts the machine's sheer dominance of humans inside and out of the matrix. The machines put forth a grand design for sustainability based elaborate messianic crisis scenario reliant on the choice of one man. The movie shows how a computer could govern our every move so seamlessly that we wouldn’t even know were are being governed, but it would really suck if one idiot could ruin the whole party. That is why humans should be in charge of the decisions that form our model.

Utopia or Dystopia?

The Story I Weave: "Once we accept our limits, we go beyond them." - Albert Einstein. Following the wisdom in this quote, we should just accept that to much power in any one person’s hand corrupts. No single person or group can manage billions of requests, yet alone maintain 150 social relationships (Dunbar’s Number). We should accept our limits as humans and use the tools we have available, such as the blockchain.

LIBERATION is what I am talking about. A human guided automation will set us free. I believe this is the fast track to opening human creativity that will fuel the fire of human innovation, and that it is not just some lazy man’s pipe-dream. On a personal level, I can tell you about how ‘botting’ broke my addiction a certain video game. Sorry for all those that hate bots. The game revolved around endless repetitive tasks where I would only challenge myself (felt like I was actually playing the game) 1% of the time. It required hours of grinding to remain competitive. Now once I set up my bot, I saw it was more efficient that I could ever be in the repetitive part of the game, and it never got tired or needed to sleep on top of that. I felt like I reclaimed my life, and I was still able to still enjoy the spoils of the game. On top of that, I found a great deal of enjoyment fine tuning my bot finding more and more ways to maximize its efficiency, which became more fun that the game itself.

Computer automation freed up hours of my day and enabled me to enjoy my game time even more. It benefited my real life relationships and allowed me to enjoy life more. This is an extremely simple accomplishment of automation when comes automating the world, but it is a positive example of how it affects the quality of life.

THE BLOCKCHAIN would act as the as the governing interface upon which humans could influence the direction of the governing computer that controls our resources. That way everyone could enjoy the same liberation I felt after running my bot for the first time, right? Once someone is born that are basically assigned a wallet, that would also represent their vote.

But at what cost on our freedoms would that Utopia be? A system where everyone is heard and laws are executed with the precision of a computer.

Brave New World by Aldous Huxley, which he began writing as a parody of H.G. Wells Utopian themed novels paints a darker image of a benevolent dictatorship. Themes introducing the abolition of natural reproduction replaced with a lab-grown genetically enforced caste system and the discouragement of critical thinking and individual action. We very well what we may have to become a eusocial society to become to achieve a so-called utopia. Humans lack the highest level of organization in animal sociality, that hive insects such as bees and ants express. Our pursuit of technology has developed an external mechanism to supplement our inferior levels of organizational skills, but since it is not of ourselves we tend to fight it. Possibly from the fear of which caste class a supercomputer may place us in.

As a blockchain driven political system a be the closest thing to true democratic socialism may achieve in the near future, how would we all have to submit to its authority?

Will our wallets be tied to our DNA, subject to be shut off by the discretion of the blockchain? Will they evolve to release a neurotoxin upon malicious thoughts as our technology progresses with further in understanding the human brain, or will it simply shut off those pathways? How long will humans it take to fully embrace eusociality? For members of society to willful partake in altruistic suicide as bees do for the sake of the whole? As some of these questions are answered the story more often resembles a dystopia.

Utopia: Freedom to think happy thoughts and only happy thoughts.

The duality of a utopia is that there is a dark side to balance out all the positive aspects. In this case, it would mean giving up some if not most aspects of human nature to ensure a persistent peaceful society. Throughout history, this idealism has been tried and tested and failed, due to human nature in itself. For the first time, we have a chance using computers to contain, control and live in good relation with the darkness of a utopian society.

Seeing how we are currently running this planet into the ground giving up some of these freedoms may not be so bad in order to continue what we have started in this universe.
SPOILER: Rendezvous with Rama by Arthur C. Clarke may have it conveyed best depicting our solar system merely as a place in space for the Ramans to perform a slingshot maneuver to continue their course, and nothing more. Truly advanced civilization's may look upon us as nothing at all.

CONCLUSION - There is no time like the present. The paradigm shifts are happening more and more in the people I meet day to day, especially when the conversation heads toward the applications of crypto currencies. If you look at the human population as a whole, we have developed a planetary nervous system through our interconnected mobile devices. If an earthquake happens in China, within seconds thousands of people in New York can be alerted through a single Steemit post. Face it Twitter etc. is becoming old new fast. I am enthusiastic that people have used technology to extend themselves in and out of nature and I am hopeful this generation will leave the world knowing they made it better for all.

PS: A gentleman came to my door today asking for money to stop factory farming from using antibiotics. Never one to carry fiat cash I told him about Steemit and how his organization should make an account to earn some money and more importantly further their cause. I also noted he should prove that the posts are from their organization. I hope to seem them on here soon, so I can upvote them! Shoot me a memo if you see them, thanks.
Also I would like to make this post a #steempowerpledge so I can power up!