Cryptocurrency: Creating Online "Cities"

taskmaster4450 (85)in LeoFinance • 4 years ago

If we step back and look at the work over the last 100 years, we see great changes. Not only did technology create a massive shift but so did the migration from a rural society to an urban one.

Much of the Industrial Revolution was due to the fact that cities offered a plethora of labor. This was used by companies in a specialized manner, thus increasing production. It put the global economy into overdrive.

Another characteristic in this shift was the how trust was generated. In rural communities, relations are more important. Human interaction was based upon tradition. Urbans areas established a different model of trust. This was done by governments and/or corporations who dictated conduct. Obviously, running afoul of the norms had consequences.

One change was that the urban areas made people interchangeable. Since it was no longer dependent upon community or relationship, the individual did not matter as much. This, too, helped to increase productivity.

Are we see a merging of the two with the online "cities" we are creating?

Source

Financialization Of Everything

Cryptocurrency unleashed a powerful force that we are just seeing emerge. The tokenization of everything is a concept that few have considered in terms of their implications. Like urbanization, it has the ability to increase productivity a great deal by expanding specialization.

Anyone's skills can be sold to the highest bigger. Regardless of what one does, he or she can be rewarded for it. Since the platform is now over 5 billion people, this is bringing a lot of talent along with great need. The Internet allows the different parties to find each other while Web 3.0 enables the payment.

Cryptocurrency is more important that many are giving it credit for.

Due to the design of Web 3.0, the decentralized nature, suddenly activities have value that did not before. The absence of rent-seekers enables for things such as micropayments. This concept alone will financialize trillions of activities. How much is "digital wave" worth? Could it be worth a quarter of a cent? Half a cent? Whatever the market says it is worth, there will be people who earn a living in Web 3.0 simply by giving digital waves throughout the day.

We are just starting to see how this process works. One of the keys is that the rights of the individual are build into the transaction itself. Using "code is law", the platform distributes rewarded based upon how it was set it. Those are clearly spelled how and usually are rather difficult to change. This is a marked difference from Web 2.0 where the controlling entities can change their Terms of Service (ToS) on a whim.

People are free to associate with whom and wherever is desired. If one "city" is not to the liking, there are other options. Individuals are free to move around as they see fit, taking their talents with them. Since the digital world can easily be navigated, freedom of movement is easy.

Also, since systems are permissionless, one can join any of these communities.

Source

Change In Commerce

With financialization comes commerce. Hence we are looking at everything becoming a commercial endeavor. Here is where we see society being uprooted more than at any other time in history.

Human interaction now becomes a transaction. That might sound a bit unemotional but it is actually the opposite.

For example, in the digital world, the upvote is suppose to be a "slap on the back". The act of upvoting someone's content is a sign of support, agreement, and thanks. It is showing how important (value?) it is to us. Here we see a way of engaging in the digital realm to show our appreciation.

Billions of upvotes are given daily on social media. Between the major companies along with our messenger/communication applications, we can pass them around like they are candy.

Here we see the potential on an emotional level. We all like to be shown that our efforts were appreciated. The upvote does this to some degree. At this level, the value is personal in nature. It feeds into how we feel about what we did.

However, it does not contain much financial value. This is something that Web 3.0 is changing. The design of crypto-economic systems allows for upvotes to have a monetary value. Here we see the financialization of that activity. By default, that means we now engaged in commerce.

The line between work and play certainly is getting blurred.

Source

Abundance

Perhaps looking at things from this perspective will help us to understand the transition from scarcity-to-abundance.

We are led to believe, because this is how our economy was structured, that scarcity leads to value. In our world today, this is how power and wealth is accumulated. People look to leverage areas of scarcity for greater gain.

But is less really more like we are led to believe?

Doesn't it stand to reason that more upvotes, or digital waves, is a good thing? Can we not conclude that an article with more comments on it only gains in value? Aren't people who are contributing more showing increased dedication as compared to those who produce less?

In fact, isn't the entire digital realm based upon the creation of more data, at an ever increasing rate?

Yet we find something interesting happening. The value does not decrease but, instead, increases the more is produced.

It is not only the number that creates the value. In this realm, utility is enormous. Therefore, as the utility of something increases, the value is going to appreciate also. Of course, for this to happen only requires a bit more coding.

Now take this idea and total up all the human activity undertaken. Since it all can be financialized, there is some type of market created. People can buy and sell that activity as the market dictates. Through the micropayment process, even the most mundane of tasks can be monetized.

Here we see how relations are changing. In our digital "cities", community is important. This is where the merging of the urban and rural come together. While the design of Web 3.0 helps with the trust factor, it is not the only layer. There needs to be more than just code.

That is where the individual nature of things enters. We have pseudo-anonymity. Nevertheless, an identity is formed. This is what other identities interact with. It is the early formation of the avatar concept.

Nevertheless, there is a "tradition" that does evolve on top of the code of conduct dictated by the blockchain. We see how communities adopt their own modes of behavior based upon what the individual participants desire. This is also financialized due to the tokenization process.

It is a completely new model of organization and one that is being developed before our eyes. Cryptocurrency is helping to create online cities that will have a host of norms which are radically different from what we have now.

If you found this article informative, please give an upvote and rehive.

gif by @doze

logo by @st8z