Humans often use the past as a guide for the future; this mistake often makes it impossible to adapt to our rapidly changing world. Technological progress is not linear, it’s exponential in nature, making it much harder to grasp. This means we constantly underestimate the pace of change and as software eats more industries, improvements compound as traditionally human-centric industries like healthcare, logistics and agriculture digitise. As these industries come online and capture, process and automate data; ownership of this data will define the state, market and nation over the next half a century. Blockchains are therefore one of the most significant technological innovations since The Internet and fundamental to Web 3.0. Blockchains, distributed ledgers, smart contracts and other decentralisation innovations provide the foundation for a scalable and secure data and asset management layer for the new Web 3.0. It acts as a platform to support individual rights while benefiting from the aggregation of vast amounts of data from the Internet of Things. They also ensure the benefits of artificial intelligence are shared broadly across society and do not aggregate to a few AI owners, or the 0.00001% of the population. The Internet of Things, artificial intelligence, autonomous robotics, 3D printing, as well as virtual & augmented reality are converging in new and exciting ways. Blockchains will become the decentralised data and asset management layer that links the data and value from these technologies, ushering in the era of blockchain-enabled convergence.
Convergence is not a process that will happen immediately, nor be a simple and linear progression. Trends will combine at different speeds based on technical limitations, political and social barriers, as well as commercial considerations. The market dynamics will vary with industrial manufacturers and telecommunications providers leading the charge in the Internet of Things, while consumer Internet companies like Google and Facebook innovate in artificial intelligence. It is important to grasp the nuances of each market, but in doing so, it’s easy to miss broader macro-trends. The development of blockchains is a good example, as exceptionally talented developers push the boundaries of cryptography with zero- knowledge proofs and smart contracts but fail to see the implications on broader governance structures and political philosophies. These are the kind of things we have been trying to figure out since the dawn of civilization. It is just as important with technological progress to study Plato and Hume as it is to study Von Neumann and Shannon. As the rate of change increases, it is critical to understand technology trends as part of a wider collective.
Blockchains - The Data & Asset Management Layer for Web 3.0 Blockchains, distributed ledgers and other decentralisation innovations will provide the foundation for a scalable and secure data and asset management layer for the new Web 3.0. This shared data layer will support individual data rights while still allowing for the societal benefits of data aggregation from the Internet of Things (IoT) to provide unimaginable insights to human behaviour.
Artificial Intelligence - Data Ownership & Value Exchange Blockchains will provide a global open dataset of all asset and resource transactions open to everyone. There are many other free datasets but as blockchain adoption grows, the volume and value of the data will surpass any other dataset, and a shared data source acts as a hedge against large AI corporations amassing all private data. Moreover, no other dataset provides an integrated value exchange and incentivisation mechanism like a blockchain, providing the basis for a decentralised data marketplace.
Autonomous Robotics – Behaviour Incentivisation With autonomous robots in the air, on roads and at sea, blockchains provide a transparent, auditable tracking record as well as allowing M2M transactions and an incentivisation mechanism. A blockchain with tokens as a reward system means robots can engage in economic activity for the benefit of their owners, individuals, corporations or more profoundly themselves. This mechanism is ideal for reinforcement learning algorithms that can use tokens as the reward signal, allowing robots to be incentivised to engage in behaviour we consider to be socially beneficial.
The Internet of Things - Building the M2M Economy Existing IoT infrastructure is centralised, insecure and generally lacks interoperability. Decentralised architecture improves the security, privacy, and resilience of an Internet of Things network, but more importantly provides a platform for value exchange. With integrated contracts, escrows, receipts and other necessary transaction features, blockchains provide the foundation for a machine-to-machine (M2M) economy.
3D Printing - How to Secure a Design Distribution Network A blockchain-based 3D printing open design distribution network provides chain-of- ownership, IP management, and in-built monetisation. Designers can release their designs into a marketplace without the concern that people can steal the design and copy or sell it. Different monetisation strategies can be employed including limited runs and subscription models. A blockchain-based distribution network extends far beyond 3D printing designers to include any content physical or digital that needs to be published, distributed and sold.
Augmented & Virtual Reality - Designing a Virtual Open Economy The role of blockchains and distributed ledgers will be similar for augmented and virtual reality as for 3D printing, in that it provides a secure content distribution platform. Unlike 3D printing, augmented and virtual reality are digital products from the start and therefore not tied to existing financial and creation processes that restrain adoption. Virtual spaces are inherently global and borderless so decentralised architectures are the ideal enabling infrastructure.
Blockchain-Enabled Convergence Reshaping Trade, Commerce & Business Blockchain-enabled convergence will go far beyond just impacting the deployment of specific technologies, it will reshape the fundamentals of global trade from manufacturing and design, logistics and distribution, and retail and commerce. The whole product supply chain will be disrupted as distribution and retail becomes less important, and manufacturing moves from industrial-scale mass production to smaller-scale, personal production. Physical retail will continue to be replaced by d-commerce sped up by enhanced discovery and purchasing technologies in artificial intelligence, augmented and virtual reality, as well as faster distribution through autonomous robotics and 3D printing.