One of the reasons why is because it's hard to learn on the internet. Being an autodidact is hard. Yes, you have all of the information in the world, but you just have so many choices that you don't make any decisions at all. Worst of all, learning alone sucks. You never get feedback, and rarely is there anyone near you that is also learning the same thing at the same time. However, it doesn't have to be this way. The solution is to build—specifically, a learning community.

In every community, there is always a way to coordinate and in this community, that is what the tags are for. They work as you would normally expect. You can create your own tags and add them to pages to help you find those pages. The main difference between the tags that you're used to and these tags are that these tags are public. By making them public, these tags are used for more than just organizing pages, they can be used to organize the community.

But this presents a question of who should be doing the organizing. It could be controlled by a company, but this limits the growth of the network and makes it harder for someone to trust that the changes in the tags are made in their best interests rather than the company's. Another option would be protocol networks, but these tend to be coopted by centralized parties because there is no incentive for anyone else to invest in its maintenance. The best option is blockchain networks.

Blockchain networks are a new modality that makes use of the blockchain and a token. By putting the tags on the blockchain, you force the changes to be recorded and transparent. This keeps the blockchain network honest. If there was any wrong doing, the users could leave the network or even fork the tags and start a new community.

With the use a token, the blockchain network can do something that the protocol networks can't which is raise funds for the development and expansion of the network. This solves one of the biggest problems with learning online which is that it is ineffective. No one cares if you mastered some online course. With the expansion of the network you can bridge the gap between online learners and employers to drive real world results and legitimize online learning so that students can invest in it knowing they will be rewarded for their work.

That being said, all of this is contingent upon the network being valuable, but the potential is also massive. If the tags become the standard, it could replace degrees because what are degree requirements but a tag hierarchy. This would lead to the decentralization of education and advance us toward a future where possibilities aren't dictated by a committee, a future where learning isn't about being instructed and replicating information but about mastery and overcoming obstacles, and a future where you are unconstrained in pursuing your ideal.

If this sounds interesting to you, join the /dailylearning channel at https://warpcast.com/~/channel/dailylearning.