What Roadblocks exist in Globalization and How can Consensus AI Solve them?
Left behind
Globalization has enabled the world to interact and trade like never before, allowing individuals and businesses to transact with others around the globe at low costs. But as much as it has benefited many, it has also left behind countless individuals — those who have lost their jobs to technologies and whose trades were displaced by mass production. While global trade has made economies grow, the gains were not equally distributed throughout individuals within each economy.
In his book, The Moral Consequences of Economic Growth, Harvard University political economy professor Benjamin Friedman points out that “progress” should be something experienced by the majority.
“Economic progress needs to be broadly based if it is to foster social and political progress. That progress requires the positive experience of a sufficiently broad cross section of a country’s population in order to shape the national mood and direction.”
As technology and economic growth forged through, little has been done to address — or even to acknowledge — the disparity between those who benefit from global trade and those struggling to keep up with it. In an article for the World Economic Forum, Diane Coyle, Bennett Professor of Public Policy at Cambridge University narrates how governments failed to address this growing gap.
“For at least three decades, since automation and globalization started radically changing industry, whole swathes of geography have been struggling even as economies have grown overall. For the most part, this has barely registered on policy-makers’ radars.”
More evenly distribute access to services
Despite the comforts and conveniences many of us enjoy as “basic” necessities, such as smartphones and constant internet connectivity, these luxuries remain inaccessible to half of the world. And the difference is glaring: those who do not have internet access and a laptop or smartphone through which they can access the web are effectively shut out from information — and valuable opportunities that could change their lives as well as their family’s.
So how can the dispersal of technology help? Access to internet connection is a start. Beyond that, there is still a lot of work to do. We believe trade, commerce, and entrepreneurship is a great place to start, and blockchain technology holds a lot of promise by enabling anyone to participate in global trade.
One of the main problems hindering individuals and communities from thriving is the lack of financial services made available to them to get small businesses started, often due to not having ID’s to open bank accounts.
Consensus AI is an amalgamation of two of the most promising emerging technologies: blockchain and artificial intelligence. When combined, blockchain technology and AI make a powerful tool for financial inclusion. Blockchain can be used as a platform for identity verification, whereas AI can be used to assess credit risks despite the absence of previous credit history. Those in isolated areas far away from opportunities can begin to be counted — and funded, to give them a jumpstart.
In this regard, local government units can start to focus on the “micro” aspects of their community: micro-economy, micro-financing, micro-payments, micro-loans. Micro-businesses can be given access to loans and other financial services that could help them catch up with, and finally become part of, the economy.
Consensus Governance Applications
It’s not enough to say that blockchain technology will encourage more access to resources; it is still up to industry movers to get things going and deliver to those they promised to serve. Such efforts have to start somewhere, and a nation’s government is its best bet at rapid dispersal. To aid this cause, Consensus was created — a robust platform where governments can automate certain processes so that they arrive at the best possible solution for the most pressing issues of their country.
Consensus has different applications planned to aid in the governance of jurisdictions. The Public Opinion Gathering Applications, for example, can be used to enable government agencies to coordinate and collaborate with local entrepreneurs and communities on issues, as well as opportunities, program proposals, and supporting solutions. Individuals within communities can get their voices heard on pressing matters within their locale. The decentralized machine learning system can be used to model possible solutions and their outcomes, before real-world deployment.
The Budgeting Application, as its name suggests, can help manage budget allocation for programs. The Legislation Application exists to aid the AI as an advisor to government agencies on existing laws prior to implementation of changes. And the External Data Application deals with importing other existing data and data sources to ensure accurate modelling and analysis.
Of course, it’s not a panacea for all. But combined with other blockchain-based efforts, for example, the internet connection sharing economy, Consensus can enable governments to broaden the reach of developmental programs to rural areas otherwise neglected due to geographic isolation.
Additionally, the influx of real-time, real-life data can provide a government with valuable insights on their territory — what activities do citizens participate in, how many of them participate, what the opportunities and necessities are, and how things can be further improved.
Apart from breaking cross-border barriers, we can start to finally break down economic barriers within the small, neglected communities from within our own backyards. As Alex Tapscott, co-author of Blockchain Revolution: How the Technology Behind Bitcoin is Changing Money, Business, and the World, wrote for Quartz:
“The challenge that lies ahead is how to make globalization (and, ipso facto, technology) work for everyone, not just privileged few.”
