We are writing the rules of the new game

Before I begin my topic, I would like to make it clear that I am simply brainstorming some ideas here. I am just thinking out-loud in a written form.

I have been watching this crypto world unraveling almost with the speed of light, and I think most people are still underestimating how this technology will profoundly change our world. Not just on a technological level, but also on the social, political and economical aspects of our lives. Years ago, I made an analogy to a good friend of mine, regarding the changes the internet was bringing to our world. I saw it as people standing on the shore of a river, which is easy to cross, but the water is starting to flow faster and faster. There will be a point in the near future when it will take an enormous effort and risk to cross it. Which side on the river one ends up on, will determine one’s life.

So, what is really happening outside the technology. Lets talk about the human factor and larger dynamics that are the real driving force behind everything. The technology is just the tool. What is this technology really trying to solve?

I think almost every generation, finds a way to rebel against the game “imposed” on them by the previous generation. Previous generations have provided us with opportunities to participate in a “good” game that they have built. But lets me honest. The game can be very rigged, depending on how deep one wishes and can look into. This is very easy to spot when one is forced to participate in a rigged game, because of treat of violence. However, here in the West, this is no so obvious. The treat of violence is very distant and conditional. There are too many real and fake benefits that the game provides, and it is hard for the new generation to commit to rejecting its and building a new one.

The internet changed this, because it didn’t take much of a commitment to participate in a new game. It was easy to stay with one foot in the old game and pay the bills, and another in the internet world to have fun. However, gradually the internet community started to create opportunities to shift the weight from one foot into the other gradually. No burning of bridges was required.

The blockchain revolution is a continuation of the internet revolution, but on a much higher intensity and scope.

So, why do new generations feel like the game is rigged by the older generations? I suspect that this is not really what older generations intended when they were unknowingly designing/building it. Their game evolved with their times and environment. The younger generation did not experience many of the signals that the environment was generating at the time of the game creation. All we can do today is read about those times. This is not the same as living the times.

This does not explain the end result fully. There is another element which is the bigger reason the old game becomes rigged for the next generations. Lets not forget that a game is there to facilitate competition. All players look for strategies on how to win the game following the rules. As strategies evolve and grow, they create an environment where power concentrates into few. These few then start to build protection walls and even have a say in rewriting the rules of the game. Eventually, the game solidifies and anyone from the new generation is going to have a hard time entering. There are all sorts of grey area social rituals, licensing, special privileges, commissions, and alliances that puts the new member into a jungle. That jungle is also filled with fog.

So, in a way the older generation did not really mean to bar the new generation from entering the structure, but this is the result anyway. Or maybe they did. Maybe, they are also carrying on a lesson from their youth. I have watched how no one pays attention to older people once they have no more a voice. Maybe, this is what they are trying to avoid. They built an insurance policy for their older years. However, this is also a recipe for a slavery for the new generation.

So, what are we really doing with the blockchain? Well, we are building a game which is made up of rules that are very difficult to understand by the older generation. The difficulty does not just come from the fact that they don’t feel the world/environment as we do. It comes from the fact that they don’t need to bother to understand it. If the old game works well for them, why would they bother to learn a new one. They just call the new game “silly” and get ready for their next golf game. Now, let me emphasize here on something very important. The majority of the people from the older generation, are also outside (for the most part) of the old game. They did not play it well or they did not get a good entry. However, they are unconsciously supporting the old game, so don’t expect much support from them either. They will also label the new game “silly”. They are still hoping to finally start getting the benefits from the game of their generation. I suspect these times will never come, but this is another topic.

I have to also admit that things are not as clear cut as I am defining them here. For example, there are good developers in the blockchain community who are from the older generation. I don’t want readers to interpret my post as a story about the war between different generations. I am not for a society in which the new generation rips down everything the old generation built. Some of the rules from the old game are there for a good reason. A reason that has nothing to do with the older generation, but instead it reflects an accumulated experience through many generations. A wisdom which is hard to pin down by reason.

So, we are here and we are building our game. I personally do not think we can avoid building a structure that will not be oppressive in some ways to the ones who enter the game later. The fact that the main theme of this game is decentralization, is giving me some hope. However, from studying history and human nature, I have come to the conclusion that we are incapable of building any other type of game. Perhaps, this is the main point of a game, as far as we define it. To find a standard by which we can compete, and if there is a competing element, then there will be winners. No way to avoid this. However, we can try to build a game that makes smaller winners, but more of them. The blockchain idea, I think has a chance of doing it the right way.
This is just the beginning.