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Great Protocol Politics
The 21st century doesn’t belong to China, the…
Great Protocol Politics
The 21st century doesn’t belong to China, the United States, or Silicon Valley. It belongs to the internet.We take a third view: Not only has technology already changed the global order, but it is also changing the nature of both companies and states themselves. The 21st century belongs not to China or the United States—nor to tech companies as traditionally understood. It belongs to the internet.https://foreignpolicy.com/2021/12/11/bitcoin-ethereum-cryptocurrency-web3-great-protocol-politics/
Intro
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crypto protocols can safeguard property and execute contracts beyond the boundaries of traditional nation states.
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What does belongs mean?
When we say belongs to "states" it means that that institutional structure has power and decides what happens ...
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But saying it belongs to the internet is a bit like saying it belongs to "writing", which is weird ... unless what they mean is the members of the internet (ie. everyone with an internet connection)
The internet protocols were owned by everybody / weren't owned or controlled by any state or company (or even think of the postal service) ... yet that didn't mean the end of states ...
The traditional functions of the geopgraphic state are being replaced by cyberspace ( and citizenship (what does citizenship grant me: access to a physical space, the people there and the services provided most obviously physical defence, social security, participation in governance))
- Physical access (to other people)
- Physical access to jobs
- Control of a currency
- Regulation
- Property rights enforcement nationally & internationally (justice and arbitration?)
- Redistribution (and addressing redistribution)
- National currencies will face digital monetary competition
[State Sovereignty of money]
Everyone becomes a foreign-exchange trader, all the time, and only the best national currencies—or cryptocurrencies—are ever held by anyone.
A similar fate will befall national currencies. Already, national currencies compete with cryptocurrencies because individuals and institutions hold digital wallets filled with various assets that can be traded against one another.
Every asset will be traded against every other asset in a gigantic table we call the “defi matrix” (defi is short for decentralized finance)
- Passports - but for work. "3. The remote economy has created a talent market for citizen". I can be in country X and work anywhere in the world ... so I don't need to be in state Y or Z to work there.
"1: Network proximity is now on par with physical geography" => i don't need a passport to be "near" someone (to talk with them etc)
"4. Bits are finally reshaping atoms" ... ?? not so sure here. Basically innovation can happen anywhere in cyberspace?
"5. Cloud-based regulators are outcompeting state-based regulators" => the regulatory role of the state is being replaced by companies who set standards for their staff ...
Everything will have a platform or platforms (i.e. every service i want will have an intermediary - i won't go to a restaurant directly but will book through a platform of some kind)
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Those platforms solely or together will have enough market power to shift the behaviour of their suppliers
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- International rule of law is becoming rule of code"
"enforceable international law may become synonymous with decentralized smart contracts, at least in the context of international trade"
"At least in the commercial realm, we believe they will increasingly turn to what we call “rule of code.” .. the Bitcoin and Ethereum blockchains are the same for all and treat all the same. Intellectual property is already being codified on blockchain ledgers, beginning with nonfungible tokens, bringing transparency to what has been a fragmented legal process.
Enforcement of ownership will be done via smart contracts & cryptography ... rather than the state's courts ...
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- Web3 is addressing global inequality by sharing the reward—and the risk
[democratizing wealth]
promising way to resolve [inequality] may be via Web3 protocols, which can be thought of as a variant of universal basic income that splits the reward—and the risk—of building a giant tech service across millions of volunteer asset holders.
And with the rise of decentralized finance, there is now an incredible variety of financing mechanisms to allow smart people with no money to find smart people with money to build tools that allow all people to make money. [everyone makes money, yay!]
And solves antitrust problems ... "And that is how Web3 may accomplish what no antitrust action or arbitrary seizure could."
- Companies, cities, currencies, communities, and countries are all becoming networks
"cities and states are fusing with cryptocurrency networks to provide their citizens with new services."
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- Power is decentralizing away from the United States and China
Conclusion
the future will be a decentralized race to the top as countries, cities, companies, and communities —physical and virtual—compete to attract talent and capital.
[all the] reason to support a decentralized order, where societies and individuals freely choose to ally with high-quality “Made in America” protocols—digital rules that bind others just as they bind those in the United States or China.
Web3 protocols could also reduce polarization and inequality by giving citizens more of a stake in the system—as is already underway with experiments in New York City, Miami, and Wyoming.
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Communication and storage technologies do alter the space of possibilities ... but how is blockchain relevant ...
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