Wow. Here we are in the dog days of January 2023. I need a vacation. You probably do too.

The world has changed dramatically over the last few years.

One of the unintended by-products of the pandemic was tech innovation. While most of us scrambled to learn Zoom or how to work from home, we now have AI Chat that is uncannily good (Open AI Chat GPT), AI portraitures (Vana for example), a Satellite network of Internet service (Space X), Electric trucks (I recently sat in a Rivian that is faster than any production Ferrari) and we also have the ability to edit a living person’s genome (admittedly I barely grasp how this works).

Recognizing the impacts of these tech innovations took a backseat to grappling with the big shifts in how our communities were changing during the pandemic — Science was questioned, camps were formed and somehow… we were pushed even further apart politically in a time when we were already socially distanced.

That all really happened.

I think we’re all still grappling with understanding it all.

We all did our best. We watched a lot of Netflix. And did our best to deal with an unimaginable scenario.

And here we are, puzzle-piecing the world back together from what was.

It mostly looks the same-same. But also different-different.

Oh, and did I mention world famous DJ Steve Aoki is going to the International Space Station as a ‘space tourist’? So there’s that too.

As we have become increasingly reliant on technology to navigate this new world, we have also become increasingly reliant on the companies that provide it. But not only reliant — outright owned by them. The pandemic saw MUCH more of our lives, habits, and free time go online and digital.

The likes of Microsoft, Google, and Apple have become literal owners and gatekeepers to our digital lives, collecting and analyzing vast amounts of data about us as we use their products and services — yet own none of our content or data.

This has led to a concentration of power in the hands of a few large corporations.

A popular meme for techies is: “There is no “cloud”, just someone else’s computer.”

This is not a new phenomenon, however. The history of human civilization is a history of the flow of information and the struggles for control over it.

From the Library of Alexandria, where ancient scholars gathered and preserved knowledge, to the invention of the printing press and the subsequent explosion of information during the Renaissance, we have always sought to expand our knowledge and understanding of the world.

And there have always been gatekeepers exerting suppression of knowledge.

The internet has only accelerated this process, allowing us to access information from all over the world. However, as the internet has grown, so too have the companies and governments that control it, who have the power to censor information and shape our understanding of the world in ways that align with their own interests.

This is where things get a bit Orwellian, Black Mirror-esque and dystopian.

Right now, if you live in a country with a high degree of freedoms, these issues might not seem prescient. Things are free! Who cares if some companies use your preferences to show you targeted ads? You don’t have to use any one particular App.

Yet, many of these same people — with this freedom — so valiantly posted Ukraine flags on their social media accounts or hung a flag on their lawn to show their support of Ukraine.

But the war on Ukraine is not a war of land or principle. Or sympathy.

It’s about control of knowledge.

We truly are living in the era of post-truths. There is no singular accepted or shared version of world “truths” now.

The Russian government, to continue my example, has a tight grip on the information that’s being shared with the Russian public. Russian media is all state-owned and pumps out a steady stream of propaganda. So it’s no surprise that the Russian public is almost fully on board with their country’s actions and claims in the war.

Some hackers got their hands on a database of Russian civilians’ mobile numbers and they asked people to text a random Russian citizen in hopes to deliver the “real scoop” on what’s happening…

And you know what? The responses from the Russian citizens were mostly all filled with mistrust, anger, and disbelief. The ‘truth’ these outsiders were sending was, in their eyes, the propaganda!

It’s surreal. But understandable.

This is the impact of thought control.

So if you ask yourself why you should care or how you can help, it would be to promote decentralization and democratization of the internet.

As the ex-CEO and founder of Twitter, Jack Dorsey, stated, “We must consider the power and impact of technology platforms on our lives and societies.”

One way to do this is through blockchain technology, specifically platforms that allow individuals to have control over their own data.

This is what techies and futurists are calling “Web 3.0” — an Internet where users don’t just show up to read things, or create things on platform owned by large companies, but to create, store and manage their own digital data. The technical term is host their own ‘node’.

An example of this is Nostr, a decentralized social network protocol being developed in support by Jack Dorsey — creator of Twitter — that empowers users to have control over their digital property. Nostr, (short acronym for ‘Notes and Other Stuff Transmitted by Relays’) is a protocol, opposed to a program or traditional App, meaning, instead of relying on centralized companies to manage and store our data, users can run their own nodes/relays and have control over our own information.

Put simpler, Nostr has no central server or company. It works like a road with simple driving rules. From this, anyone using these rules can build and drive on the road — whether a car, a go-kart, or longboard. And the beauty is, the road and rules are resistant to be shut down or censored.

Each user can choose who and what to engage with, follow or block, without a centralized power to influence or decide.

This is a step towards a better world where information is not limited by gatekeepers.

There are more and more Apps, Protocols and programs being developed that align with this philosophy. It’s important to note that this is not about promoting harmful or vile content, but about the potential benefits of data ownership for individuals and society as a whole.

Web 3.0 has the potential to bring about a more open and equitable internet, where trust and transparency are built into the very fabric of the network.

It’s work — finding, testing and using decentralized Apps and owning your own data. Changing the world has never been easy.

But it’s worthwhile for those who’s livelihoods or very lives depend on this transformation.

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