Tree of Knowledge

What do you guys think? This has been a topic on my mind all weekend and today.

And this is where I think cryptocurrency could fit into the bigger picture. If we ever moved toward a system where blockchain was used to operate things like digital voting, government services, business transactions, or other parts of society, the blockchain would need some way to process and authorize those transactions. That’s where cryptocurrency could come in. The crypto token wouldn’t necessarily just be something you buy and sell as an investment. It could function as the native currency of the blockchain itself, the digital asset used to pay for transactions and authorize actions within the network. Think of it almost like the fuel that allows the system to operate. If I wanted to submit a transaction, access a service, transfer something of value, or trigger a function on the blockchain, the network could use its native token to process and validate that action. That is a very different concept from simply treating crypto like digital casino money. And it fits into the larger idea I’ve been thinking about with AI. AI could provide the intelligence and automation. Blockchain could provide a transparent and verifiable infrastructure. And cryptocurrency could provide the digital currency that allows people and applications to transact within that infrastructure. Instead of every transaction requiring a bank, payment processor, or centralized company sitting in the middle, blockchain technology could potentially allow people and systems to interact directly with one another. That doesn’t mean every cryptocurrency will succeed or that blockchain is the answer to everything. But I think it’s worth looking at crypto beyond the price chart. If we’re talking about a future where technology gives individuals more independence from massive institutions, then AI, blockchain, and digital currencies could potentially become pieces of the same larger technological shift. The interesting part isn’t simply the coin. It’s what the network can actually do with it.

Imagine a future where we no longer need politicians in the way we do today. What if AI and technology eventually allowed us to move away from representative government and toward a form of direct democracy? Instead of voting for politicians every few years and giving them the authority to make decisions on our behalf, what if we simply voted on the policies themselves? Imagine that every year, perhaps 100 major policies were presented to the American people. Each proposal would be made available through a secure digital platform, and every citizen could review the actual proposal before voting. You could open an app on your phone and see: What does this policy do? How much will it cost? Who will it affect? What are the arguments for it? What are the arguments against it? What could the unintended consequences be? AI could take complicated legislation that is hundreds of pages long and explain it in plain English. It could show you how the proposal would affect taxes, government spending, businesses, families, or whatever other areas are relevant. But the AI wouldn’t make the decision. You would. You could vote directly on the policies you support. The entire system could potentially use highly secure digital infrastructure, with blockchain technology explored as one component for creating a transparent and independently auditable record of the voting process. Imagine being able to look at the public ledger and verify that the results were recorded exactly as they were supposed to be. No political campaign telling you what to think. No politician making promises every four years. No waiting for someone in Washington to decide what they think their constituents want. You would actually be the constituent making the decision. Of course, this wouldn’t be simple. There would have to be enormous safeguards. How do we verify someone’s identity without compromising the secrecy of their ballot? How do we prevent someone from being forced to vote a certain way? How do we protect the system from hacking and cyberattacks? How do we make sure people without smartphones or reliable internet access aren’t excluded? How do we prevent AI from becoming a propaganda machine? And perhaps most importantly, how do we protect fundamental rights from being voted away by a temporary majority? Those questions would have to be taken extremely seriously. But technology has already transformed almost every other part of our lives. We can communicate instantly with someone on the other side of the planet. We can transfer money from our phones. We can access virtually unlimited information from our pockets. So why couldn’t technology eventually transform the way we participate in government? Maybe the role of AI in democracy shouldn’t be to govern us. Maybe its role should be to give us the information and tools necessary to govern ourselves. That distinction is huge. AI could explain the legislation. Technology could facilitate the vote. Blockchain or other cryptographic systems could potentially provide additional transparency and auditability. Independent institutions could oversee the process. But ultimately, the people make the decision. And perhaps that is where this entire conversation about AI becomes even more interesting. We’ve spent a lot of time asking whether AI will make corporations more powerful or take people’s jobs. But what if one of its greatest potential uses is giving ordinary people more direct control over their own lives? What if AI doesn’t replace democracy? What if it makes democracy more direct? Maybe the future isn’t about AI replacing human beings. Maybe it’s about giving human beings tools powerful enough that they don’t need to depend on politicians, corporations, or other institutions to make every important decision for them. The technology wouldn’t decide what kind of country we should live in. We would.

Ever since the creation and widespread rollout of the internet, our lives have become increasingly connected to systems that we depend on every day. Banking, employment, communication, education, entertainment, commerce—so much of modern life now runs through systems controlled by large institutions and corporations. In a sense, the technology that was supposed to connect us may have also made us increasingly dependent on the system around us. But what if AI represents the next step in that evolution? What if AI wasn’t simply created to make corporations more efficient or replace human labor? What if, in the long run, AI could actually help free people from the systems we’ve become dependent on? Maybe the question isn’t whether AI will take our jobs. Maybe the bigger question is whether AI could eventually give ordinary people the ability to create their own opportunities, build their own businesses, solve their own problems, and become less dependent on massive corporations to provide those things for them. I obviously can’t say that this was the original intention behind AI. But it is an interesting possibility to think about. Perhaps the internet connected us to the system. Perhaps AI could give us the tools to become less dependent on it.

What if, instead of spending our lives working for companies that make billions of dollars while relying on thousands of employees to keep everything running, technology eventually gives ordinary people the ability to create their own businesses, products, services, and sources of income? Maybe the future isn’t everyone losing their jobs. Maybe the future is people having more freedom to create their own jobs. Maybe I could use AI to build an online business instead of working for Amazon. Maybe someone else could use it to create an app, start a design company, open an online store, write a book, develop a video game, or build something that would have previously required thousands of dollars and an entire team of professionals. But there is one thing I think we absolutely should be focusing on when it comes to AI: regulation, accountability, and checks and balances. I don’t think the answer is to blindly embrace AI, and I don’t think the answer is to blindly reject it either. The technology is here, and it is going to continue advancing whether we like it or not. The real question is how we make sure it is developed and used responsibly. We need reasonable safeguards. We need transparency. We need accountability when AI is abused. We need protections against legitimate harms while still allowing people to innovate and benefit from the technology. And those rules shouldn’t simply be written in a way that protects the largest corporations while limiting everyone else’s access to the technology. The goal should be to create a system where AI can be powerful without being uncontrolled, innovative without being reckless, and accessible without allowing it to be abused. Because perhaps the biggest potential of AI isn’t that it gives corporations more power. Perhaps it’s that it gives individual people more power. More control. More opportunity. More independence. And maybe, instead of AI freeing corporations from needing as many workers, it could eventually free workers from needing corporations. That, to me, is a possibility worth exploring.

I’ve had a lot of time to reflect on the limitless power artificial intelligence could potentially create. The question is: will that power be used for good, or will it be used for bad? After giving it a lot of thought, I completely understand why so many people including myself are skeptical of AI when it falls into the wrong hands. There are legitimate concerns about AI being used to destroy art, creativity, and human expression. But if we view AI as a tool rather than a replacement for human creativity, I think it could ultimately be incredibly beneficial to us. What I find particularly interesting is who is preaching against AI and trying to understand why. I was talking with a friend over the weekend who is a school teacher specializing in 3D animation. He is also a video game developer. He was telling me about the enormous pushback against using AI in video games and digital art. Even his school discourages him from teaching students how to use AI as a tool to speed up the artistic process. That struck me as strange. The world is clearly moving toward a more technologically advanced and increasingly artificial future. Wouldn’t we want students to understand these tools and learn how to use them responsibly rather than simply reject them? He also told me that he recently lost his game development job, along with his entire team, when the company outsourced the work to developers in Taiwan who could produce essentially the same results at a substantially lower cost. That made me think about the way AI is portrayed in the media. We constantly hear: “AI is going to destroy jobs.” But is that really the whole story? Maybe AI doesn’t simply destroy jobs. Maybe it has the potential to fundamentally change who has the power to create and who has access to opportunity. Imagine being able to use AI to develop an app that solves a problem you have. Maybe you want to start a business. AI could potentially help you set up payroll, develop a menu, design a website, create marketing materials, organize your finances, or build systems that previously required an entire team of people. In that sense, AI could actually promote entrepreneurship. If AI becomes increasingly accessible, affordable, and user-friendly, we may not have to rely as heavily on massive corporations to provide every service or opportunity we need to participate in society. And this is where I think the conversation gets really interesting. What if AI doesn’t just eliminate jobs? What if it eliminates some of the necessity of relying on massive corporations? Think about it from the perspective of a major company. If a corporation makes money because people need its services, what happens when individuals suddenly have access to technology that allows them to do many of those same things themselves? That creates an interesting possibility. Maybe some of the resistance toward AI isn’t simply about protecting jobs, art, or creativity. Maybe there is also a concern about what happens when ordinary people no longer need to rely on certain companies for services they once had no choice but to pay for. If I can use AI to build my own website, develop my own software, handle certain administrative tasks, create marketing materials, design products, or even help build an entire business, then I may not need to pay another company to do those things for me. And if millions of people can do the same thing, that could fundamentally change the balance of power between individuals and large corporations. Of course, that doesn’t mean every company is opposing AI for that reason. There are legitimate concerns about copyright, misinformation, job displacement, privacy, security, and the impact AI could have on creative industries. But I think it’s worth asking the question: Who benefits from people having access to powerful AI, and who potentially loses something when they do? What if AI doesn’t simply destroy jobs? What if it eliminates some of the necessity of working for massive corporations?

Please consider picking up this book the sermons are also on the Pinnacle Baptist website as well as the YouTube channel if you’d prefer to listen thru them instead. https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0HKYZ6XC6/

What do you guys think? Is it true? I guess we will never know.

“Enter ye in at the strait gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in thereat: because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it.” Matthew 7 : 13 - 14

So powerful and so true 🙏