Will Blockchain Revolutionize Social Institutions? [A Look at Marriage]
Marriage is a Bubble
No no no, I'm not already doubting my vows or commitments to my wife. I've spent the last few months preparing (and my partner much much more so) for the grand union this past weekend and during that time, I couldn't help but ponder upon the relationship of what we can argue to be the blockchain revolution with the age-old concept of marriage, especially in this modern day. I may be stretching the analogies and overthinking the impact of our dear new technology, but there are some real questions to put forward. Will decentralized ways of working and thinking fundamentally change the way we structure our society? Will it change the concept of what it means to be linked to someone?
Source: Flickr
Marriage is indeed a bubble. For anyone that's had or is in preparation of their wedding, you know the inexplicable amount of effort, resources, and emotional energy that goes into it all. It is personal investment to the fullest. And as many who are marriage-hardened after years of partnership have told me, it's all about HODLing like never before. We live in a modern age where a staggeringly high amount of marriages (approx over 50% in the US and over 60% in Korea) lead to the bubble popping and the bond does not sustain. I'll do whatever I can to make sure our value together sustains the dips and bad press, shoot back up after the sudden corrections, and no actual divestment occurs. Here we go!
Decouple our Assumptions of Coupling
Like I mentioned yesterday, I hesitated for a great deal to talk about anything concerning my personal wedding in detail. I made several posts on the nature of Korean weddings and related overall discussions but to be honest, personal accounts and documentation frightened me. My writing would be my word, perpetually baked into the ever-growing blockchain and validated by so many fellow Steemians around world. Part of me thought “what if...” in a way far different than putting up frivolous announcements on Facebook or Instagram, both of which I can repeal any information I want at any time.
But the more I thought upon it, the more I was excited. Here was a very significant moment that I had an opportunity to converge with my involvement in blockchain. It might seem like just another blogpost to many but this one in particular emerged from a great deal of deliberation. I live in respect to the butterfly effect and I know that this move will have some impact on my long-term relationship with my spouse. We've seen cryptocurrency movement and activity surpass all preconceptions of market bubbles, so why wouldn't blockchain technology also surpass preconceptions of social bubbles? This applies just as much to marriage as it does to friendships, political involvement, professional colleagues, extended family, and so many more. We humans have lived in such self-centric social circles where there is a tangible limit to how many people we can maintain contact with and incorporate into our daily lives. Maybe a bit of social decentralization will make our various bonds more resilient.
Source: Rojak Culture
One way to observe this will be to keep tabs on who we maintain relationships with on Steemit for the coming months/years. I talked in a previous post about some of my observations on the types of friends I've made on Steemit and how those friendships are structurally different than the ones I made in school or work. I have a feeling that these links will see a different kind of growth than previous ones.
Source: REPL Group
At this point, both my wife and I are on Steemit. We've made dozens of mutual friends that we foresee meeting with often in the years to come. The platform and community provides a very deep overlap in our personal interests and daily engagement and has become a crux of our bond. We've integrated Steemit into our office work and our hobbies. And this is all just the beginning.
Well anyway, enough of me and my silly analogies. Let me know what you think below and as always, Steem on Steemit!
Nicely bolg...
Really great thoughts! Hahah sometimes it scares me to know that every word every, spelling error is imprinted on blockchain forever. 😂
It is fascination to see how Steemit has effects relationships and society. Making friends from all of ther world, have accessibility to a great community, surely great things are to follow.
Absolutely! We're just at the beginning of uncovering all these relationship potentials on the blockchain.
Great post Michael, I like the trending analogy and completely agree. There are swing highs and swing lows but a fight is most of the time just a correction within an uptrend :-)
Cheers to the uptrends!
interesting concept of the decentralized shifting how we see relationships and even marriage....I have a feeling that you have more thinking on this than what you reveal here and I hope it comes out in future posts ;-).
Also,
actually, more is welcome - you have an especially insightful way of thinking about relationships building bridges of all sorts!
Haha thank you for the comment and curiosity @natureofbeing! I'll try to come up with some good follow-ups soon =)