Things can happen very quickly. In the totality of time, a few decades is nothing. For most of humanity's existence, not much changed. Our "evolution" as a species, especially a social one, took thousands of years for each iteration.
It is only in the last few hundred years that things really started to be altered. Consider for a second the life of someone in the 1600s versus one 800 years earlier. Frankly, things were very similar.
Of course, life today is much different from the 1700s. In fact, it is radically changed as compared to the 1970s, at least for the developed countries. Much of our daily lives, today, is something that was considered science fiction just half a century ago.
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Younger people have a more difficult time seeing how much things can change. A lot of this has to due with the fact that, pre-COVID, life we not much different than it was in the year 2000. Sure there were a few changes, including the adoption of mobile. However, for the most part, our work and home lives were very similar.
This is not the case if we look at the years from 1980 to 2000. Here is a time period we can see radical changes. Technological advancements such as the VCR, mobile phone, cable television, personal computer, Internet, World Wide Web, copy machine, and robotics altered how we lived and worked.
For this reason, it is best not to be stuck in the mindset that things are slow to change and what we know is going to remain the same. This applies to every area of life.
One area we see radically transforming is money. Cryptocurrency is seriously altering how we interact and the possibilities surrounding the transfer of value. What was once in the hands of a few is now open to just about anyone. Money creation no longer is a monopolistic entity.
It is take to take this thought process a step further.
We are seeing the demonetization of many industries. The shift to digital completely alters how things are produced, distributed and consumed. It is said the the Internet is the world's biggest copy machine. Whatever is on there can be duplicated an infinite amount of times.
Today, we are in the early stages of radical advancements in manufacturing and construction. A lot of this has to do with the progress the materials sciences are making. We are embarking upon a time when we will build things at the atomic level. While it is still decades away, it is helpful to start thinking about these things.
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Cryptocurrency is simply a phase we will be going through. Just like much in the last 300 years, a lot of what was created ended up passing away when it no longer served the needs of people. Call if creative destruction if you want but the main point is that which is stagnant disappears.
There are some who are resisting the idea of doing away with cash. This is sensible since those people were reared in a world where "cash was king". It was the norm. That is what symbolized wealth. Having a lot of greenbacks was what separated the classes.
Now, we see, most in the developed world do not use case. The physical aspect of currency disappeared. Almost all transactions are conducted electronically in the digital realm.
In the 1970s, if you told people there would be a time when they did not need cash (physical) to conduct transactions, they would have thought you nuts. Naturally, most will think it nuts to read there will come a time, in a few decades, when money as a whole is not needed. Instead, we will evolve into a realm where we are post-monetary.
This transition will not come from new economic or financial discoveries. Instead, we will see the continued advancement of technology bring us to the point where money, as we know it, is no longer necessary. Much if what we require will be free, or near free. This is what demonetization does. When we are making things from the atomic level, why is one required to purchase things using a medium of exchange.
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How close are we to this becoming a reality? We should look to the 2050s as the starting point where we will start to see this becoming more common. That sounds like a long time but just think, 1991 was not too long ago for those of us who were adults at that time. For all the advancement that it provided, it is vital to keep in mind that the World Wide Web was only invented in 1989.
In the world of technological advancement, 30 years is an eternity.
Cryptocurrency is ushering in an era of financial abundance. Whatever the Internet touches, it copies. Well, the Internet came to money and we are starting to see the results. This is going to help fund the innovations over the next couple decades. Many of the world's problems will be addressed because there will be the funding available to research solutions.
Money is nothing more than a tool for collaboration. It is what allows people to come together for a common purpose and interact. There will come a time, though, when the need for humans to interact, at least to the same degree, dwindles. At this point, we will see more of it done by computers and robots. These devices do not need money, only energy.
Ultimately, we will go through the phase where we transition to abundance of money to get to the point where we do not need money.
It is an interested concept to wrap our heads around yet it is just in keeping with the progress over the last 50 years. As we go deeper into the digital realm and start to cross into the virtual, everything is going to change.
At the top of the list will be our relationship and need for money.
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