The Virtual Country-Utopia 2.0 Disintermediation of Knowledge

I have chosen to publish this at a moment when two nations in Europe are at each other. The genesis of which is boundaries and identity struggle. Ironically the anti-thesis of my view of the future where countries will become mere service providers to citizens who?choose to live in them physically but are largely identified with their virtual ,membership and citizenship ?of their virtual worlds. But every once in a while, in that process of social evolution tribalism of identities will rear its head and push us back to the struggles much like the crusade wars to the world wars and the itty-bitty skirmishes in between. We live in an age of anger and an angry nation finds a ready weapon in assertion of identity. The idea of the virtual nation starts with this idea. How the idea of identity is changing in the digital era.

Human identity span is much closer and shorter than we think. National identities are manufactured identities imposed on geo political motivations. Let me state a fact and ask a question from there. The fact first: an average human comes under the influence of about 120 people in his entire life span. And that includes your immediate family, parents , siblings, friends and all the others who have in some manner have touched and shaped your life. It does not include the pass through relations that have had no bearing on the outcomes of your life. Now the question: What do you think is the number from this list, on whose death bed you will have genuine tears. I said “genuine tears”. I can bet you will struggle after the tenth name if you could go that far. That’s how narrow our identity matrix runs. It’s a simple three by three(3x3) matrix at its most evolved stage. So do not take these geo-political identities too seriously. The primal gut of human evolution has no place for it and I promise to strip it to its bare bones in my future writings. Let me stay the course and resurrect the idea without changing tack.

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?Picking the thread from my last discussion on the concept of a virtual Country and its legitimacy and status among the union of nations, I had introduced the idea of a disintermediated world. A world that has no boundaries, no central authorities and ?yet has a legal status of a nation and citizenship . Like a symphony of jazz musicians jamming without a conductor , guided only by the invisible hands of a trusted virtual platform. We live in these fabulous times when variety of ideas can quickly mould and morph into something brilliant . Imagine the unexpected, and a world of possibilities emerges that will shape the future of this world. When photography was invented and matured into mainstream hobby, artists were liberated from the compulsion of depicting reality. It was no longer the obligation of the artist to capture reality. Surrealism and Impressionism was truly born then, when you could imagine beyond the realms of reality and paint a world, as you wanted to see it. Surrealism challenged the viewers reality and motivated to think from their inner emotional truths. Much like what I envisage digitization and metaverse will do. BYOS-Bring your own story, create your own image and discover what could be not what has been. The early impressionists and surrealists were not in the least treated kindly by the realists, and yet the idea flourished to create a movement in art that shaped the idea of modern Europe.

…….In this segment, I will touch upon my early views, of a world where knowledge is disintermediated and distributed to those who desire rather than those who deserve. In the sections that follow I will explore the sociology of disintermediation in various facets of our life ranging from relationships, religion, education, technology, judiciary, and society as a whole.

What happens when knowledge shifts from a central authority and is evenly distributed among its people. Evolutionary traits of all species and humans in particular, like the distance between the nobility ?and the cadres.?As technology breaches the patriarchal boundaries and reaches the masses, information and knowledge proliferates at speeds unknown in history. Not sure if wisdom, the missing piece in the trio keeps pace. The natural result of this distribution is dilution of respect for authority and a veiled warning “Do not tell me what is right and what is wrong”. It also breaks to an extent the barriers of class and decolonizes the society from clutches of ignorance. So is it all positive from here? What are the long term consequences of this unbridled distribution? Is than arrogance broadly distributed too?

Historically societies were organized to keep true knowledge or at least the knowledge that mattered, privy to the privileged.?The result: Style, status and snob concentrated in the patrons of the privileged class. What happens in the societies that do not confirm to the dominance hierarchies and structures that evolved from biological evolution and principals of natural selection. How does the world evolve from non-conformance to Darwinian dominance hierarchies? If knowledge is distributed equally, what new norms will evolve to maintain the status quo of dominance. The complexity of decision making in a equal society is moot, as you always seem to require a dominance hierarchy in an efficient decision system. Does equal distribution lead to equal happiness? Or is happiness a result of unequal distribution with its genesis in hierarchies? Is some amount of unevenness required for creation of wealth and perceived happiness?

?Respect whether earned or imposed, stems from unequal distribution. Wealth, information, knowledge and status,??has for centuries been concentrated in either the elite or the evil . Knowledge became one such source of power that could be kept in the closet protected and used to widen the fault lines between the haves and have nots. The problem was how to restrict its reach and control its dissemination. ?Evil ,that usually is better organized than the good and goalless was successful in keeping the status quo of inequality of knowledge. But technology now has the keys to democratize that knowledge and put it into the hands of anyone.

In my next section on this , I will ?bring ideas that will shape the world of Knowledge that is disintermediated, distributed in a true laizzes faire of knowledge with no central intervention. I will share my thoughts on - teachers, learning, subjects , streams, employability, universities, technology in education, pace of learning, degrees, knowledge, pressure, peer pressure, exams, assessments, creativity, innovation, discipline, parental guidance, tuitions, coaches, facilitators, ?rich and poor, disadvantage of the poor kids, lack of Infrastructure ,environment, metaverse and its aid in creating the right environment.

See you later… Hasta la Vista