Where is blockchain actually headed?

Before I get started, I would like you to ask yourself in retrospect with the help of a these questions; do we really understand blockchain technology at a grass root level? How did it come to be and besides cryptocurrency and big claims what does blockchain technology truly have to offer to the world?

In a world driven by media, artificial intelligence and readily available information via books, search engines etc., we seem to have completely outsourced our thinking to these instruments. Take a moment to truly think about blockchain and its implications beyond cryptocurrencies.

Let’s travel back to the year 1918. Try and put yourself in the shoes of a person living in the world at that point of time. Just imagine the state of technology back then. In comparison to those times, tech has evolved by leaps and bounds. We are blessed to have instant connectivity, smartphones, computers, easy cross continental travel, advanced health care and so on. We have come a long way. But could you have imagined this from the shoes of a person living in the 1918? It is nothing short of a miracle if you ask me.

Currently we stand in the year 2018, and we feel like we have arrived at the pinnacle of technological achievement. However, we must understand that there is room for improvement, just as a man would have done back in 1918.

Every once in a while, there are major breakthrough technologies that come out of nowhere and change the face of the world for the better. And more often than not, these technologies are undermined by the big powerhouses. Taking the example of IBM, who overlooked the personal computer and look where it stands today.

The larger tech industry today seems occupied with fancy technologies like VR, AR, AI and so on. But no one is paying much attention to Blockchain and the revolutionary technology it could be, at least not in the manner that it deserves.

What does blockchain truly mean?
In 3 simple words, blockchain means the following;

1. Decentralisation
2. Disintermediation
3. Empowerment of users

Blockchain is an entirely new way of doing things and it will change how we store and share our personal data, how business is conducted and how the internet functions. Additionally, blockchain is the binding force that will enable AI and IoT(Internet- of – Things) technology to unleash its true potential and help the world become a better place. Blockchain means disruption. The big power houses are comfortable with their traditional ways of conducting business and hence overlook this technology. This is done mainly because their business models are dependent on ad revenues that exploit user data which they are not ready to change. However, evolution has its own way and innovation is inevitable. Who would have thought that an anonymous entity Satoshi Nakamoto would plant the seed for blockchain technology? We always look at the big guys for innovation, but innovation comes from the underdogs and from places its least expected.

What next?

Cryptocurrency is one of the millions of use cases of blockchain technology and its implications on the financial industry are huge. It has everyone's attention, central banks, governments, big banks and small banks. All of them are afraid of technological change because they fear that their power as an intermediary will be diluted and in due time, removed perhaps. Just like AI & Robots will replace manual work, Blockchain will replace white-collar work. So, they are naturally inclined to oppose it and when that does not work, they wish to tame it by calling it Distributed Ledger Technology (DLT). Instead of finding new innovative use cases, they seem to be searching for ways to fit this new technology into their old ways of doing things. What is the new way of doing things?

Any business model can fit into an application in today's world. For example, a transport booking application that lets you book a cab from your smartphone eliminates the need for people to wait for a taxi and makes it easier for drivers to find fares and has standard pricing. Simple and effortless at the tap of your phone. However, such applications are becoming giants intermediaries to essential services just like the banks and they tend to directly or indirectly exploit consumers and creators. Many of these applications take a 20% - 35% commission of the revenues value generators like drivers and content creators make. But by using decentralised applications, also known as ‘Dapps’, we eliminate the need for a central point of control. Every user that downloads the application on their phone or computer can host it as a server and there can be millions of servers which make the system immutable. Dapps are going to revolutionise business as we know it. More value will flow back to the creators and this will stimulate more innovation by reducing the marginal cost of production.

Technologies that we yet only fancy in movies such as virtual AI assistants and IoT smart devices such as appliances, robots and autonomous cars will now come to life and make life easier because of blockchain technology. Without blockchain technology, AI and IoT are crippled. I use the word cripple because they can function only in limited scale in the same way they are doing today. True AI machine learning requires collaborative learning which is not possible on a centralized system where the first thing they are after is your private data. However, blockchain technology will support collaborative learning on a decentralised framework across all devices worldwide while respecting user privacy. This will be done by empowering users with the software and hardware tools to control their own data. That is what blockchain stands for, decentralisation and empowerment.

Users will be able to have Virtual AI assistant accessible throughout all their devices, users can assign a custom name to the virtual assistant and request it to book you a holiday without you having to do the hard work - watch out travel agents - and it can also analyse data collected by your smart devices while allowing you access via voice. Additionally, it will be able to source relevant news and info for you based on your history and all of this will be done while respecting your privacy.

As I said in the beginning, Blockchain is a revolution that is here to stay and it will change things for the better whether we like it or not. I believe it might even disrupt the big tech giants we know today but new ones will emerge. Other relevant technologies such as IPFS will put up a fight which will be nothing short of a David vs Goliath battle.