Blockchain Revolution

A NEW AGENDA FOR THE NEXT DIGITAL AGE
A blockchain governance network is critical to stewardship of this global resource.
But how can we ensure that this next generation of the Internet fulfills its promise?
The next era of the digital age is delivering unlimited possibilities, significant
dangers, unknown roadblocks, formidable challenges, and a future that is far from
certain. Technology, especially the distributed kind, creates opportunities for
everyone, but inexorably humans determine the outcome. In the words of Constance
Choi, “This technology holds both promise and peril. It’s how we wield it.”
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As this
chapter has discussed, there is a role for everyone to play in achieving the new
promise of the digital age.
In previous epochal transitions, societies took action to implement new
understandings, laws, and institutions. These transformations of civilization took time,
usually centuries, and were often punctuated by strife or even revolutions.
Today the situation is different. Change is happening infinitely faster. More
important, Moore’s law indicates that the rate of change is accelerating exponentially.
We’re moving to the proverbial “second half of the chessboard” where exponential
growth upon exponential growth creates the incomprehensible.
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The upshot is that
our regulatory and policy infrastructures are woefully inadequate and adapting too
slowly or not at all to the requirements of the digital age. The disruptions of today are
moving so fast they are getting beyond the capacity of individuals and institutions to
comprehend them, let alone manage their impact. Our democratic institutions and
instruments were designed for the industrial age—in fact they originated precisely in
the transformation from agrarian feudal societies into industrial capitalist states.

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How can we accelerate the human transformation required to keep pace with
accelerating technological innovation and disruption? How can we avoid massive
social dislocation, or worse? Lest we be accused of being technology determinists or
utopians, may we propose that it’s time for a new social contract for the digital age.
Governments, the private sector, the civil society, and individuals need to collaborate
to forge new common understandings.
As we enter this second generation of the Internet, it’s time for a Manifesto for the
Digital Age. Call it a Declaration of Interdependence. Digital age citizens have Rights
—access to digital infrastructures, literacy, media literacy, lifelong learning, and
renewed freedom of speech online without the fear of surveillance.
The digital economy and society should be governed according to Principles.
Surely, those who work should share in the wealth they create. If computers can do
the work, then the workweek, not our standard of living, should be reduced. In fact,
Satoshi’s implicit design principles for the blockchain revolution should serve us well
—we need institutions that act with integrity, security, privacy, inclusion, rights
protection, and distributed power. Let’s work to distribute opportunity and prosperity
at the point of origin, rather than simply redistributing wealth after it’s been created
by traditional class structures.
Blockchain technology may reduce the costs and size of government, but we’ll
still need new Laws in many areas. There are technological and business model
solutions to the challenges of intellectual property and rights ownership. So we should
be rewriting or trashing old laws that stifle innovation through overprotection of
patents. Better antitrust action must stem the trend toward monopolies so that no one
overpays for, say, basic Internet or financial services. Eighty percent of Americans
have no choice when it comes to Internet service providers, which might help explain
why bandwidth is one of the slowest and most expensive in the developed world.
Criminal fixers who manipulate everything from foreign exchange to diesel emissions
should be prosecuted and punished appropriately.
We’ll need Institutional Transformation across the board. Central banks will need
to change their role in currency management and monetary policy and collaborate
multilaterally with more stakeholders in the economy and society. We need schools
and universities with student-focused, customized collaborative mastery of
information on the blockchain, freeing up students and teachers alike to participate in
small group discussion and projects. We need a universal patient record on the
blockchain, to ensure collaborative health when we can manage our own wellness
outside of the system. When we enter the health care system, we should not suffer
because of ignorance-inspired drug interactions or medicine not based on evidence.
Politicians will need to adapt to a transparent world where smart contracts ensure their

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accountability to electorates. How do we manage the disruption after digital
currencies upend the $500 billion remittances market?
Blockchain technology can enable new Physical Infrastructures requiring new
partnerships and understandings among stakeholders. What happens to the millions of
Uber drivers when SUber wipes out their jobs? What can cities do to ensure that in
2025 citizens think positively about intelligent transportation systems? How do we
effectively move to a distributed blockchain-enabled electrical power grid where
home owners are contributors rather than just customers of electricity? How will we
find the leadership to implement a blockchain-enabled personal carbon trading
system?