Monetising the Future: Phosphorescence
Of my Palaver, this literary chaos is the third and final installment of the series. First is Exordium followed by Reprisal — to those who stuck through, you have the virtue of a monk achieving transcendence, and for a few more minutes, I ask that you keep monkin’.
To know is not too demanding: it merely requires memory and time. But to understand is quite a different matter: it requires intellectual ability and training, a self-conscious awareness of what one is doing, experience in techniques of analysis and synthesis, and above all, perspective. — Caroll Quigley, The Evolution of Civilisations, 1961
In the distance are the gleaming lights of our contractual destination. His spirited demeanor is infectious. I have enjoyed every minute of this travel, I wish business finds such a magnificent person many times over today.
A consolation in traversing these roads far too often is that he can gauge our proximity to the airport with impressive accuracy as though crunching the Distance Speed Time Formula.
“Six minutes. You can time it or it’s free.” Confident as a magician performing a trick painstakingly perfected for years. Pressed for time, he makes the most out of our discussion:
“Their government should just get rid of the Federal Reserve.” — His bold statement echoes Ronald Ernest Paul.
“A precise solution to end a tyrannical institution of course, but what of the tyranny?” I asked him.
“I understand. but I still don’t see how cryptocurrency fits into any of this.” — His growing curiosity hinting for reassurance.
“ It’s that mythological apple in that all-time bestselling book.” He glances over in perplexity.
A reference to an ancient literature that spoke of man’s primordial voracity in his genesis. How mankind was ill-equipped to hold on to paradise.
As implied, Man and Contentment are each sold separately.
Money, for all its innocence and well intent, encapsulate our tendencies and predilection. It taps on the dark reverberations of the soul. Where an honest self-reflection yields indeterminate answers to whether we are cynical of our own values — will it hold in a life of limitless desires? or simply render us irreversibly corrupted.
Our mastery as a species is in the formulation of grand systems and structures. Unlike all other life in diversity, we are not bound to a single industry adaptation, but to an artistic capability towards a plethora and yet where our strength lies, so does our weakness. We have an inclination to exploit what is embedded in the psyche, and a readiness to animate our proclivities.
“Man will stumble over to strike a Faustian Bargain. He will stoop to conquer — This is the human frailty.” — I exclaimed.
The dethroned will be replaced, the throne remains.
The other side of the dialectic is the abolition of the Federal Reserve due to its mandate. It is predicated that the ending of such institution is an implicit eradication of its inherent fraud. This however, could not be further from the truth, as it merely suggest a transference of right or authority to continue a detestable, yet otherwise lawful act.
With such fundamental error, it creates futility in effort. A paradigm shift towards positive change is nullified, for the status quo does not change. The creation of money out of nothing, as long as it is encouraged by men of authority, will remain intact and unencumbered within the system.
Fons et origo mali — the source and origin of evil.
The God complex — An alchemy of grandiosity, privilege, and power. Possessed by the dangerously ambitious, found in the higher echelons of command, and enabled by the overwhelming promise and influence of money. It is what resides in the exclusive halls of wall street and the government.
From the demise of the Knights Templar to the ruin of Lehman Brothers, we now know the brush strokes that have painted our dark history. It has played an integral role in defining the social stratum of our sinister past, along with the assertion to delineate the exploitation of those seeking to acquire the terrifying power it bestows. It is man’s lust for wealth and the absolute control over many that compels him, entailing a dangerous justification for his need of hierarchic structures.
It is without question, however, that humanity require leaders that can wield power through sound governance. But to those who have the right to empower a man, as a vote, is required some form of submission, thus carelessly empower a tyrant and it will demand their entirety, it will demand slavery.
The whole commerce between master and slave is a perpetual exercise of the most boisterous passions, the most unremitting despotism on the one part, and degrading submissions on the other. Our children see this, and learn to imitate it. — Thomas Jefferson
The key to our future is understanding the past. Our species have made invaluable contributions in the advancement of life, in the actuation of brilliant systems and infrastructure, precisely engineered to a remarkable degree of science — a true testament to our intelligent design. However, malice is man’s birthright as history and mythology would affirm. We are destructive in nature, inclined to weaponise every aspect of discovery and technology.
Many a time we stand at the crossroads of choice, where the most pressing of questions are based on morality. How the critical difference between life’s exploration and devastation is the simple choice of Plutonium placement on a rocket — placed at the rear we set out to explore, placed in front we effectively kill – and as man is in endless pursuit for absolute power and might, he is doomed to act towards the latter.
So maybe we are asking the wrong questions about cryptocurrency and its burden of divinity. Maybe the saving grace is not in terms of return of investment but of another. Maybe the revolution is not a question of what cryptocurrency disrupts, but why. Maybe it’s not what type of cryptocurrency to get behind, but rather what is actually behind it. So maybe it’s simply — Blockchain.
The blockchain is the silent reshaping of the future. A complex code of inescapable fairness for any application that builds upon it. It is the ultimate finality of man’s dependency on centralisation.
“So this was not about Money?” — His disappointment rising.
“Actually it is, and a lot more. For the very first time, we might find out what financial freedom truly means.”
Freedom from centralisation — where wages are earned full and savings immutable, not stolen away by a constant devaluation from an ever-rising inflation. Where voting may never be the same again, for its technology of linked cryptography makes it resistant to data manipulation of any malicious entity.
Data security and verification, logistics and handling — smart contracts will eliminate paper trail, red tape, and tampering. Medicine and Artificial Intelligence, Energy and Water, Food and Transportation.
A public ledger, a decentralised distribution and re-distribution of wealth, a single technology that is the foundation of the new world, disrupting everything today for a chance of a fair future — and yes it is only just the beginning.
Suddenly, less than two minutes to the destination, there it is. The most gratifying gesture one can receive — A smile. One that represents optimism in human ingenuity; one that looks forward to tomorrow.
“Thank you, and you have yourself a wonderful swing brother.” He spoke with heartfelt sincerity as I disembarked from the taxicab.
“Magic.” I extend to conclude the trip with a fist-bump.
Walking towards the automated doors, I recalled a thought from the stillness at pre-dawn, a contemplation towards something, a purpose to life’s destination. Realising that just like everything, the lessons and experiences are always found within the journey, waiting to be unraveled between points of start and conclusion.
Some may say a necessary return to the Gold Standard and some may argue a complete abolition of money altogether. Maybe it’s all of these or maybe it’s none of these. But to however far we take this fight, and with the weapons we so choose, let us all be at least united in simply — knowing.
For knowledge is the seed of sovereign power within any individual that seeks it, nurtures it. They carry the might of information that they become themselves the revolution.
“I hope that posterity will judge me kindly, not only as to the things which I have explained, but also to those which I have intentionally omitted so as to leave to others the pleasure of discovery.” — René Descartes
A week has passed from the day, a notification on my mobile illuminated the darkened room. I received a rather interesting text message:
“Hey, brother I thought about our conversation last week. I think you make a really good point. So I bought Ripple. #moonsoon”
“Ha. Funny Harry.”
