In one of my previous pieces, I noted that human life, as we know it today, might become completely an electric-powered intelligence form in the future. Our brain — and overall neural system — is already using electricity for its internal communication. And we already leave tons of footprints on social media every day as byproducts of our soul or character. Humankind might redefine society as a neural network of psyches modeled around social artifacts that we leave behind us as we go through this digital world.
Let’s face it: Biology has a limit and our genes know that physics can offer more. A different form of life as an example… Maybe light; maybe other forms of energy?
I think it will be electricity as many others imagined (?).
Machine learning (ML), artificial intelligence (AI), virtual reality (VR), augmented reality (AR), gene editing (e.g. CRISPR), neuroscience (e.g. Neuralink), robotics (e.g. BostonDynamics), green energy (e.g. Tesla), space travel (e.g. SpaceX, Virgin Galactic), quantum computing… They all remind me that humankind is not just getting multi-planetary, half-robot, or machine, humankind is transitioning into a new digital life form. All these companies are just footsteps of such a brighter and enduring future!
Chain on, my friends!
We will live forever!
Be careful though! It is not flesh, dust, or electric charge! It is your soul — my friend — that will always seek for a body or story to manifest its being, regardless of the era or universe you are living in; as if it was a seed waiting for a warm light and steamy air to sprout.
Wake up, my friend! We made it! The power is back! We are on the chain, life goes on, human civilization continues!
I am not sure when we can start plugging ourselves into power outlets when the sun sets, or if our bodies can directly use and store enough energy emitted from the closest star. However, I am pretty sure that the electric future is coming and it is coming fast!
I am excited about such a future; and in my imagination, the blockchain is still the best existential material to build such an all-electric future for human society and its collective consciousness. It gives us decentralization, privacy, freedom, permission-less participation, and trust as an infra. The rest is to give people tools so that they can craft their souls on this new material. I guess Jack Dorsey has already brought a small team together to make Twitter blockchain-friendly (search Bluesky). Surprised?
There are tons of things that we can do for such a future although our current clothes are still all flesh.
To me, when you are building for such an electric future that might take decades to manifest itself, you better focus on muscles that you need to strengthen, tools that you might need all the time, and culture to flourish within; not final products. Most products you might be shipping in the early days will be strictly MVPs.
“On-chain analytics” seems to be a good entry point to build such a muscle (which can be read as capacity or capabilities). It might help you to understand blockchains, how they work, the psychology of the community behind them or the consumer behavior holding their network coins.
There are a few well-known examples in the market already like Glassnode and Cryptoquant; however, the overall market is growing so fast and the pie is getting larger and larger; you just need to figure out how to get your piece. It is not a surprise that Coinbase, a centralized cryptocurrency exchange market in the US, just acquired a startup in this domain: Skew (April 30, 2021).
Your typical customers will be miners, day traders, and technical analysts, in the early days. Later, it makes sense to add financial research companies, finance departments of big corporates, hedge funds, and —who knows — maybe central banks as your new customers.
Most technical analysts tend to be day traders, too, in crypto markets. They mostly use TradingView as a tool for their technical analysis. They build communities by teaching on Udemy and sharing insights (technical analysis screenshots) on Twitter. They also hold live sessions on Instagram and Youtube for their followers when the market is wavy. Some only use a few hours of sleep to stand by with their followers and mourn with them when the “whales” “dump” on them.
What else a founder might need? They reason, they teach, they bet with their own money, they share, they communicate and they stand by.
When building an on-chain analytics solution, you might realize that you are running at least a node for every given network; the network that you’d like to generate insight for… (e.g. CDD chart for Bitcoin, a market indicator; hence an insight).
Why do we need to run a node per network?
Not sure; maybe we don’t have to do so. In my imagination, it will be either the exact same code that other nodes are also running or a slightly altered version that we gotta fork so that we can fire & catch all important events. For example, whenever a block is written, a transaction is made or a token is created (i.e. minted) on the network/blockchain... In some cases, e.g. in ERC20 — a famous token spec—, there are even built-in Events that can be handy.
If we need to run a node per network, I’d consider mining/staking, too, as a side business to generate another stream of revenue; although this option would require some initial capital.
Too much? No worries; this was just to show that we can start small, learn as we go, and still make some revenue along the way to survive. Time will show us what stands out and what fades out.
Dream on, my friends!
We will have a chip on the backside of our skulls. We will save our dreams on blockchains; we will replay our best experiences to our consciousness; and we will be able to search for like-minded people by comparing the electric footprints of our brains. It is all electric!