As Artificial Intelligence becomes more and more prevalent, the storage of data is becoming critical. Countries have invested in massive infrastructure just to realize they can get hacked. Thankfully, in parallel to all the progress in AI, we've seen an amazing process in cryptography, blockchain, and Zero-Knowledge proof! These tools unlock an amazing feature for our data: decentralization.
At its core, decentralization is the ability for a system to run without relying on a specific agent, or you could say: everyone maintains the system but no one is in charge. Cryptocurrencies are decentralizing finance, Decentralized Autonomous Organizations (DAOs) are decentralizing corporations, and Decentralized Physical Infrastructure Networks (DePIN) are taking care of physical layers (Telecom, Energy, Compute ...).
It's impressive to think we could coordinate 8 billion people (or more!) without a single leader ... but this goes further. If everyone maintains the system a little bit, we don't need intermediaries. No more bankers, lawyers or investors, everyone could rely on a piece of software to provide all the public goods.
Obviously there's a lot that cannot be done just with a computer, and some people will enjoy taking care of a nuclear central just to afford something special (honeymoon on the moon, anyone?) but if decision making can be fully decentralized we might see a proper universal basic income and the ability for everyone to engage in what they prefer.
At the root of motivation, for people and society to perform there is the voluntary will to pursue a passion, so with the ability to choose what to achieve, people can be rewarded for their efforts rather than their status. It's an opt-in life where I'd expect most people to stay in nature and enjoy their family.
Once decentralization spreads, all that's left with people to do is to create, imagine, and build. The new currency will become articulate imagination, which can be argued to already be when we see the power of media. That's alright, AI agents will take over and provide us with the feed we want, better than any human.
AI tools are only accelerating a trend, where we control more and decide what we want to spend time on. It will take care of the bureaucratie in the background, using crypto rails that we can trust. What's left? Choosing your community. There will be as many communities as there are ideas, and we can and should explore what technology allows us to explore.
There will always be problems, rivalry, and jealousy ... but technology is increasing the time we have and the options we have ... so should we just embrace it? Like any tool, it depends on what you do with it, so expect to see very strange and dark AI-driven decentralized terrorists, but the beauty of having more options is that you can explore many different usages of technology and join your favorite.
Can you imagine a world with millions of societies and you can join as many as you want? The number of passports we hold will keep increasing, the number of countries will keep increasing, and there's no reason to limit the definition of nation to humans, so we can expect AI communities.
It's not going to stop, and the rate of change keeps on increasing, as any good exponential emerging pattern ... But there's a hopeful picture for the future of humanity in building better societies: yes this was an article about Network States
