There are always two sides to a story.
Take World War 2, for example. If you had grew up in Europe or North America, you were probably taught in government schools the Allied perspective, and led to believe that Hitler and Nazi Germany were nothing but pure evil.
Information Suppression
If you feel so inclined, though, you can search for books and documentaries that explore the other side of the war, and you may be surprised by what you uncover.
These documentaries present historical documents and quotes from key figures in the war, suggesting that it may have actually been the western allies who were in the wrong.
You may experience disbelief after being exposed to this new information. You will probably feel the urge to verify these documents and quotes for yourself.
But surprise, surprise - you will encounter difficulties finding them using a mainstream search engine, as the "inconvenient" info has likely been intentionally filtered.
When you finally locate a few obscure sources that have the quotes you were looking for, you are left wondering if they can be trusted, and remain in doubt.
Considering that people are much easier to control when they're confused, the likelihood of information being suppressed throughout history is highly probable.
Even the sacred Bible comes into question. How can we verify that the original message of the prophets was not tampered with by powerful kings and church authorities to fit their narratives?
Traditional Media
During both WW1 and WW2, leaders relied on newspapers to convey their message to the public. In the latter half of the 20th century, cable TV became the primary medium.
Unfortunately, newspapers, radio stations, and cable news stations can be purchased by powerful people, and used to indoctrinate the population from a young age.
Nowadays, politicians and business leaders have turned to social media, where they can communicate directly with the public in an unfiltered way.
For a while it seemed we had reached the epitome of free speech.
However, over the past 5 years we have witnessed increasing censorship of Twitter, YouTube, and other platforms. The message of crypto proponents, political dissidents, and "anti-vaxxers" has been suppressed.
What is the solution?
Alternative platforms like Rumble, BitChute, and X (formerly Twitter) are committed to upholding free speech, and have emerged to give the people a new voice.
While I believe the intentions of the owners are noble, we have to accept the possibility that these platforms could be captured and censored again, due to their centralized nature.
Also consider that we cannot verify ownership of the accounts who are publishing content on these platforms. Are they real people, bots, or so-called "controlled opposition"? Only the platform owners would be privy to this information.
Enter Bitcoin
The majority of the population is still mystified by Bitcoin. For those who do have a basic understanding, many still don't realize that Bitcoin can be used for much more than just transferring money.
For example, each transaction sent over the Bitcoin network has room to add additional text, if the sender is willing to pay for it. This additional space can be used to etch permanent records into the blockchain.
Never before in history have we had a decentralized, permissionless, immutable and "trustless" data storage network like Bitcoin. The applications of it are empowering.
Last year, Guatemala had the idea to store their election records permanently on the Bitcoin blockchain, so that no one in the future would be able to change the agreed upon results.
When we etch history into the blockchain, neither the contents, nor the author can be disputed, and we can even verify it ourselves.
Imagine if Moses had inscribed each passage he received from God directly onto the blockchain. While translations would have been possible, no king or church authority could have manipulated his original message.
Imagine if Roosevelt, Churchill, Stalin, and Hitler had all been using Bitcoin to communicate with the public during the war to make their messages not only authentic, but immutable too. Wouldn't that have made verifying war history now a lot easier?
Multi-Chain Makes It Possible
Unfortunately, Bitcoin's TPS limit makes it unfeasible for all political and business leaders to use it as an immutable public messaging platform.
However, we do have blockchain-based social media platforms like HIVE, which make permanent and verifiable messaging a reality.
Moreover, with platforms like Arweave and Jackal, people can now upload photos and videos that are both verifiable and permanent, thus making history indisputable from this point on.
In the future, instead of digging up old documents and quotes and trying to authenticate them ourselves, we will turn to the blockchain to verify historical events.
Eliminating Bots
How would we know that a new Bitcoin or HIVE account isn't just a bot, or an impersonator? This highlights the importance of building a reputation in Web 3.0 over time, so that people can confidently associate you with your public address.
For example, due to the early time stamps, and the constant mining activity of Satoshi Nakamoto, we can verify his (blockchain) identity beyond the shadow of a doubt.
Until next time...
Traditional media and Web 2.0 are both vulnerable to capture, control, and censorship. If you don't want your message to be tampered with in the future, you had better inscribe it on a public, decentralized, and censorship-resistant blockchain.
If you learned something new from this article, be sure to check out my other posts on crypto and finance here on the HIVE blockchain. You can also follow me on InLeo for more frequent updates.
Resources
Defeated The Wrong Enemy Quote [1]
Twitter Censorship Image [2]
Genesis Block Hex Image [3]