Blockchains in the post-Covid world - an imminent resurgence

We live in a time where determining the truth about anything not in our direct line of sight has become next to impossible. Narratives surround us left and right, especially in the online space, where fierce information wars are fought on daily basis. And while some argue this has always been the case (world is nothing but perceptions right?), the onslaught of conflicted stories has been steadily gaining in strength, especially since the advent of social media. And just when we thought the internet disinformation and manipulation was bad enough, things have gotten worse… Way worse in fact.

In a sudden zeitgeist shift of the Covid19 pandemic, lockdowns made us stop whatever we were doing and really tune in to the cacophony of the media machine going bonkers. Crazed stories, scary visions and emotionally charged content have gone ballistic with the headlines shouting:

“Virus could be more deadly as the Spanish flu”
“The world will end without a vaccine, which takes years to develop, but let's make one this year anyway.”
“It’s just a flu, like any other year - stop freaking out and look at the numbers!”
“Wait, no, but look at Italy!”
“But it’s the health system collapsing due to induced panic.”
“The Swedes got it right…”
"The Swedes are guilty of manslaughter on their elderly”

For every headline there was evidence in numbers, reasonings and expert interviews.

Determining anything half plausible became a daunting quest. Faced with fake news platforming criticism, social media giants started censoring anything conflicted with the official World Health Organisation stance. This also sparked controversy, as their interpretation was shifted a couple of times during the outbreak. Not to mention that WHO has also been known for warping the reality in the past for the convenience of its stakeholders - a fairly common occurrence in places where big money and politics meet.

So who is to call what the truth is, and what levels of centralised oversight are we willing to accept, especially in a time when the danger could very well be real? Are there any legitimate spin-free channels through which we could stay well informed? Suddenly the answer to this question really matters, and effects everyone. With even the governments scrambling in headless chickens mode, exposed to conflicting bits of information, we see that no one is immune to the dangers of manipulation and mass confusion.

Stitching the chicken heads back on

It’s almost uncanny in hindsight how vastly unprepared for the virus outbreak the world turned out to be. Not just logistically and economically, but from the information propagation standpoint. It looks as if we could be entering a new era, where people are likely to split into two groups, or states of mind. Or to use the matrix analogy, the blue and the red pill crowd.

The red pill crowd is naturally more inclined to self-reflect, acknowledging that life is usually way more complex than we’d like it to be. Questioning stuff on an ongoing basis, doubt and insight is the mode of operation here, which, while time consuming, shields the red pill folks from insanity. It’s uncomfortable, and reminds them constantly how little they know and understand. Critical and doubtful, this crew might come across as undecided and hard to influence.

In the meantime, the blue pill crew is more likely to be caught binging on Netflix, gaming, food, porn, drugs or what have you, trying to silence the discerning observer, associating it with uncertainty and fear. Easy answers and fast solutions are in demand, as are painkillers and simplified views of the world. Subjected to these anaesthetics, this crowd is easier to sway by aggressive populist agendas and finger pointing of clever propagandists.

Two ways out: Cake or death

To keep it brief, the blue pill crew is already falling prey to totalitarian leaders, simple answers and populist narratives capitalising on human unawareness and fears. This has always been the case in states of global distress - the simplest, loudest and crudest leadership got most traction, removing the responsibility from the individual in exchange for personal freedom, physical or economical.

The red pill bunch has a rocky road ahead, but we argue it is the only road worth taking. It requires looking deep into what brought us to this place, with awareness and knowledge of contexts and complex relationships shaping today's world. A mix of technology, intuition and knowledge will play a huge role here, as the main tools for shaping of more inclusive vision of the world that could lead us out of the mess we're in right now.

Blockchains more relevant than ever…

As a standby EOS block producer and heavy blockchain proponents since many years, we’ve witnessed first hand the birth of an industry, also backed by strong narratives and ideology. Bitcoin could be had for $75 then. And while blockchains are alive and well, many have written them off as too cumbersome, slow and expensive to run. With the new zeitgeist at hand, we argue that the contrary will actually manifest.

Fast, reliable, censorship resistant, and crowd-moderated technologies will see heavy usage for determining community consensus, and have a grand future ahead of them. EOS.io and Voice.com being good examples, even though still in their early days, seem more relevant than ever. The ability to boost worthy content, perform community moderation and collect payouts that are not subjected to centralised whim of Youtube, Twitter or Facebook has just become precious as oxygen.

The dam is breaking…

The disinformation pandemic will not just go away, even if suddenly everyone shifted to blockchain powered technology. Yet, proliferating slowly, tools promoting KYC’d actors, persistent reputation and community curation seem to be the only way out of the current mess. Without them, overweight tech giants, colluding with governments can warp the reality to their liking, transporting humanity into a disturbingly totalitarian landscape. The models they propose can be either held in place by force, or collapse at scale, under the weight of different cultures and ideologies. Thus anybody willing to take the red pill should pay close attention to blockchains, and especially ones offering massive throughput. Here EOS.io and the and Voice.com social platform are incredible tools that could keep humanity on track, and offer a safeguard against a post-Covid surge in overreach and totalitarian, populist agendas. While it's a long shot, it seems a no brainer to stick around.

Tokenika is a standby block producer on EOS.io, author of smart contract testing frameworks, thought leadership, organiser of EOS meetups and an EOS community developer hub. Contributing to EOS since late 2017, before it's actual launch, we are actively looking for ways to contribute to the EOS community. If you like our work, please support us by voting for Tokenika4eos