Propheting from the Blockchain

Are prophets dead? Well, technically yes but are they dead in the future too?

The great lies all have a seed of truth at their core. A seed that sprouted and as each leaf unfurled, a new layer of exaggeration was added. What started off as a fishing story with a hand estimate being a little wider than the reality of the fish, soon turns into landing Moby Dick.

That is a singular story but a collective story can grow out of proportion very fast as it gets passed along the informational chains of custody. Each ear can hear and interpret something quite different depending on investment and incentives for particular outcomes. The mouth then passes an incentivised retelling onto the next ear where misinterpretations and misrepresentations again take place.

Each person at each step likely feels they understand the information and are passing it along with adequate fidelity. Their paraphrasing and embellishments were to improve the information, not warp it. It was what was meant anyway. Some may purposely skew information to meet their own needs. In time, this can get well and truly out of hand.

In my opinion, no telling of a story, even first-hand experienced, is accurate. They are always coloured by the position, experience and motivations of the speaker and the fidelity of the information that led to the speaker.

Now, when it comes to the books that have been written about the prophets claiming words by the gods, how much has been embellished or manipulated based upon the motivations and incentives of those that wrote it, those that told the stories, those that may have even spoken with the prophet directly? We can never know, we must take it at face value and interpret, misinterpret or discard the best we can.

I was writing another article before this but instead chose to combine parts of it so will segue into the idea of that now. The article was on the bible. More specifically, if Jesus was to come to earth at this moment and read it, what would he think.

On a scale of one to ten with ten being completely, how much is in line with his actual actions and words spoken. How accurate were the words of witnesses, how trustworthy the writing of the educated scribes, how good the translation from Aramaic?

There are many points of contact where there is room for error, administration, amplification and curation. And, there was no way at the time to verify any of the information other than trust in the speaker, and the speaker was not Jesus himself, but an extremely long succession of mouths whispering to ears.

If we look at the latest US elections as a reference and the fake news stories that circulated and even after being proven false from multiple sources, many still choose to believe. What happened 2000 years ago?

But, this article isn't about questioning the bible or the act of Jesus, Buddha, Moses, Mohammad or any other prophet, it is about any future prophet. Can there ever be another?

Even though currently fake news is still possible, the blockchain offers potential solutions to informational infidelity. It could take out all embellishment, all exaggeration, all unverifiable points and replace it with what would be considered, decentralized fact.

With this level of informational trust and so many nodes writing it, faking an event as large as the words of Gods will be near impossible. There will be verified video, audio and whatever new technologies will write to the blocks for eternity. Every act performed, every word spoken and potential miracle will be in front of the world stage for all to witness and recorded and verified across multiple sources. Word of mouth is finished.

So, going back to Jesus having a read of his biography. Assuming he remembers back 2000 odd years, how much would he discard as misrepresentation, exaggeration or outright lie?

If he then rewrites it in his true own words (Gods) and strips all false information, what is left? Is it still a tome of hard to decipher fine print or has it been vastly reduced into an absolutely clear, manageable and unmistakable pamphlet? What of the miracles, the actions and all of the things that make him standout of the crowd as the King of men? Does it still look impressive enough to go to war over or is it straightforward, practical and logical enough that anyone would say, 'yeah, fair enough'?

When another prophet arrives or returns, what are they going to need to do to get the support required to be believed by the masses considering there will likely be no avenue for embellishment and the entire mass can be introduced to the teachings immediately in high-fidelity ultra high definition?

Will there be another prophet? If there is, it is likely the one that successfully unifies humanity.

If there is another, they will be the first to have essentially direct access to every person simultaneously and have all of their words, actions and miracles recorded by multiple sources and verified by a decentralized and trusted system. Blockchain prophet would be virtually undeniable.

If there was ever a time for a verified messenger of god to unite humanity, it would be around about now, right?

Taraz
[ a Steemit original ]

Imagine if the new prophet started their run at Steemit. Just think what their AMA sessions would look like... and their follower count. Would they be the King of Whales? A curation trail? Would they adjust their upvote to maximise profit or reward? Would they troll accounts and downvote liars and sinners?

Perhaps Steem would hit the sun and we would rejoice and use it all to help those in need.

Who knows...