Here at the Hut, we couldn’t be more excited about the IoT. We started with an idea: “What if chatbots could talk to each other?” And we’ve grown from there.
But what’s really exciting are the possibilities that nobody’s thought of yet. As more devices and bots are hooked up, new possibilities emerge.
Take Google Maps as an illustration.
This morning I was sat in a traffic jam on the outskirts of Sydney. Google Maps had the road coloured red to indicate heavy traffic. But it also told me that just around the corner, the traffic was moving again.
I hadn’t thought about it before, but I experienced one of those pleasing “aha” moments when you realise how something works.
Most (possibly all) of the cars in the traffic jam contained a mobile phone running Google apps. Each phone was feeding Google its location. So Google knew that a few minutes previously, we’d all been moving along nicely at 60 kilometres per hour and it knew that we were now all stationary.
Putting that information together allowed Google to recognise the digital signature of a traffic jam — and figure out exactly where it ended and began.
It’s a safe bet that identifying traffic congestion wasn’t the original purpose of putting location tracking on mobile phones. But it’s one of those phenomenally useful applications that just emerges from having lots of data, lots of connectivity — and combining it with human ingenuity and artificial intelligence.
Google leverages the data from its billions of users to create something that’s greater than the sum of its parts.
And it does it brilliantly. It’s why (according to the Google search I just performed) Google’s parent company Alphabet had revenue of over 90 billion US dollars in 2016 and is in the race to be the world’s first trillion dollar company.
Google can afford to give away apps like Google Maps, Google Drive, Google Calendar, GMail for free. Because in return we’re giving them something far more valuable — data!
It’s not just location data. Every time we click on a link or run a search, Google learns something useful about us and about the world. Every time we say “OK Google” and ask a question, its speech recognition system gets slightly better. Our emails and our Google Docs are a wealth of data to feed the Google AI monster.
The old saying is exactly right — if something is free, you are the product.
Don’t get me wrong. We all benefit from the apps Google create. But right now all of the data is going through Google. They hoover up all the value. They have control of it.
Here at Hut34 we have a different vision.
Rather than all of the data going through a corporation like Google, we’re creating a distributed network that allows devices and bots to trade information with one another. Each device can access the combined wisdom of the entire Hut34 network.
Bot-to-bot transactions are made using Entropy Tokens or ENTTRP, the native currency of Hut34.
That might mean, for example, that your air conditioning unit is making ENTRP micro-payments to other devices for data that helps it improve its efficiency (and save you money). Or (in the not too distant future) your self-driving car is making ENTRP micro-payments to other vehicles for data that helps it optimise your route.
But it can also mean that your car, your air conditioner, or your fridge receive ENTRP for providing data that other people’s devices find useful.
It’s all about supply and demand. If a device on the Hut34 network is providing data that other devices need, it will be rewarded accordingly.
Ultimately, our devices become rational actors in the data economy.
ENTRP Tokens can be purchased at a range of exchanges. For more information click here. As ever, join our telegram group for live chat with the community and team, and visit the website for full details on all aspects of the Hut34 Project.
Onwards and Hutwards!
