VISION AND VALUE PROPOSITION
We live in a world awash in data. Perhaps the most valuable data is the type that you and I generate just by living and doing things. Virtually every action that we do in life can be quantified and has value. We are a walking goldmine for companies that want to know where we live, travel, exercise, what we eat, what things we search and buy, and even our sleep patterns.
So why aren’t we all rich? If data is the new oil, then why are we freely giving it away?
The short answer is most people probably don’t know how much they are worth nor are they aware that companies are collecting their data. Here are some prime examples how companies collect our data and why it is so valuable to them:
Amazon – your shopping habits and preferences are tracked, collected and analyzed. I recently wrote about how one day Amazon wants to ship you items that you are not aware of, and have a high confidence that you will buy them.
Alphabet – one of the top 20 companies in the world by market capitalization is all about data. Why does Alphabet invest so much in driverless cars? Location-based data will be huge.
Fitbit – captures exercise data to help them monitor and analyze everthing from where you run, how far, and how long.
Here’s the real quick to the head: virtually all of your data is collected with you permission (granted there is data that is collected without your knowledge). Disagree? Go back and look at all of those Terms of Service and User Agreements that you clicked “I agree to the terms of service.” Most probably has some sort of wording whereby you authorize them to collect and use your data however they choose. All of it.
Before you get the pitchforks and torches out to storm the mayor’s office, you must understand that there is a transaction going on here where both sides are getting what they want. In other words, those that say that we all freely giving away out data is engaging in hyperbole. In exchange for our data we get to use all those wonderful services (Netflix, Facebook, Google, etc.). In turn, those companies use the data to improve their service (and get super-rich).
This best the question “who is getting the better deal here?” Think of all the internet services that you use daily. Can you live without them? Probably, but your quality of life will suck ass.
Think you are getting gyped? So does Jaron Lanier. Read Who Owns The Future?
Even if we are aware that we are getting a raw deal, we don’t have much choice. One person refusing to use a service is a drop in the bucket. However, a billion drops is a flood.
The only other way I can think of is government regulation where companies might be forced to separate the terms of service into a data portion. While one might think that Google is unstoppable, but change rarely is successful from one individual. It will take the masses to take back their data.
That’s where Synapse AI enters the picture. They also believe that the data pendulum has swung too far in favor of large corporations. So they want to build a data marketplace and create a world where “agents” participate with each other on their own terms.
Synapse’s vision has two (2) major benefits. The first is if they are successful, data will be centralized instead of held by individual corporations. As the Synapse marketplace grows so does the value. The second benefit is all of humanity will benefit instead of corporations taking most of the winnings.
DATA MARKETPLACE
Synapse wants to create a data marketplace, run on blockchain, to facilitate transactions between agents. Synapse defines agents as any participant in the network such as users, devices, and autonomous bots. The marketplace will use ontologies/taxonomies/classifications to organize the relationships between components. Any type of data can be placed in the marketplace such as genomic, financial, and IoT sensor data.
Synapse has identified three (3) types main types of transactions on the marketplace:
- Agents requesting, collecting, contributing, and brokering data.
- Agents training, confirming, and using models.
- Agents contacting one another autonomously.
In sum, the marketplace will become Synapse’s network and its value will grow as more participants use it.
ROADMAP
| Spring 2018 I | PHASE I – Agent to Data: Agents look to fulfill smart contract and ad-hoc data queries |
| Summer 2018 | PHASE II – Data to Models: Groups of data that are available for use to all users |
| Fall 2018 | PHASE III – Models to Service Machine learning models are created and trained using these data pools. |
| Winter 2018 | PHASE IV – Services to Agents: These models are in turn offered back to agents through micro services. |
FINAL THOUGHTS
Synapse has a great idea to use blockchain to create a data marketplace and native economy using their SYN token. As I said in the introduction, we are walking goldmines and we should get paid more for using the data we produce. While Synapse will unlikely get the large corporations to the table right away, I can see their marketplace target researchers and small entities at first and build slowly over time.
I can also see participants use the marketplace to pay individuals to fill out surveys and Synapse incorporating gamification to encourage participates on both sides to achieve special bonuses for completing tasks/missions. Synapse also has the option to pay for data as well by encouraging customers to fill out questionnaires on a quarterly basis to keep the data up-to-date. Other entities can query Synapses DB and pay Synapse for large amount of data that they have collected. Everyone wins.
Synapse has a ton of possibilities, but they must be focused on encouraging more use of the network and growing the user base. Like any network, the large it gets, the more valuable it becomes for all the participants.
In sum, Synapse has a great idea but they will have to do a lot of marketing to grow the user base. They should also consider gamification to encourage participants on both sides to transaction with each other.
Who will own the future?
REFERENCE LINKS
Synapse AI Website
Whitepaper
FAQ
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