The Promise of Decentralized Technologies
"Be yourself; everyone else is already taken." - Oscar Wilde
I am excited to explore how emerging technologies like AI and blockchain could empower self-expression in the future. These technologies hold great potential to unleash creativity by allowing AI agents to communicate and interact in decentralized networks. I have dedicated my life to exploring the decentralized metaverse and have a vested interest in trying to predict where it is heading and what that means for me as I try to advance my life in a meaningful way.
Decentralized technologies have progressed rapidly in recent years, yet the promise of combining AI with blockchain remains largely theoretical. Many proposals aim to increase the transparency, safety and automation of AI through the use of distributed ledgers. However, most lack proven product-market fit as the core challenges of developing unbiased and accountable machine learning models have not been solved at a technical level. For decentralized systems to meaningfully address issues of AI governance, the algorithms themselves must become more robust.
interview with The Block, Nansen analyst Sandra Leow said,
“Both AI and crypto are quickly maturing, and while the potential of artificial intelligence and blockchain integration remains largely uncertain today, the emerging use-cases and possibility enabled by both technologies is massive.”
One area where integration has shown more promise is in web3 gaming. Online multiplayer games have long grappled with a lack of robust in-game economies, governance difficulties for player communities, and limited extensibility imposed by centralized publishers. The dichotomy between how Epic and Valve have approached in game economies and blockchains relevance could not be a more stark example of this.
https://www.theverge.com/2021/10/15/22728425/valve-steam-blockchain-nft-crypto-ban-games-age-of-rust
Blockchain architectures are well-suited to solving these coordination problems through open marketplaces and decentralized autonomous organizations. I am personally spending an unhealthy amount of time exploring onchain gaming so I speak from a place of love and hate.
Additionally, user-generated content plays a huge role in modern gaming culture and its growth is accelerating as AI lowers production costs. Decentralized protocols could empower players as true stakeholders and content creators. If you're a gamer then you're probably aware of the modding community and the truly astonishing amount of content that fans of various game franchises produce, mostly for free.
Perhaps more importantly from a social perspective, emerging generations now coming of age see self-expression as a fundamental need that current centralized services do not fully satisfy. Younger demographics seek authenticity and control over their digital identities, yet mainstream platforms prioritize profitability over permitting raw self-actualization. Technology should augment our natural human urges rather than constrain them. If decentralized networks can provide the means and freedom for users to become their true selves through AI agents, it may lead to new cultural paradigms.
In this essay, I hope to outline progress on technical solutions for decentralized AI as well as discuss important drivers like gaming, generational attitudes and control over intellectual property that could propel further development. It is my view that with a scalable and interoperable underlying protocol, the envisioned "Multiverse" may become reality and fulfill the promise of freely expressing one's authentic identity on a global scale.
Current Proposals Face Challenges in Proving Real Value
I cannot recall the books I've read any more than the games I have played.
Current proposals to combine AI and blockchain aim to increase the transparency, safety and automation of artificial intelligence systems through the use of distributed ledgers. However, many of these proposals have yet to demonstrate clear product-market fit as the core challenges of developing unbiased and accountable machine learning models have not been fully addressed.
https://www.gemini.com/trend-report-2024
One of the early applications explored is the idea of "AI-driven smart contracts", where the logic and rules governing transactions on the blockchain could be defined by AI agents instead of traditional code. Proponents argue this could allow for more flexible and adaptive systems. However, for AI to directly interact with value transfers on a blockchain raises serious technical questions around accountability, explainability and the potential for exploitation that have not been satisfactorily answered. Unless the algorithms themselves can be made more robust and their decisions adequately justified, simply putting them on a distributed LEDGER does little to address the root issues of AI governance.
One area showing more promise is decentralized gaming. Online multiplayer games have long struggled with a lack of robust in-game economies that are transparent and interoperable. Blockchain-based economies could allow items, currencies and achievements to retain value even after a game shuts down its servers. They also open the possibility of true ownership where players control their digital possessions rather than publishers. Governance challenges for player communities could also be addressed through decentralized autonomous organizations running on-chain.
The growth of user-generated content in gaming is another factor propelling integration. User modifications, skins, levels and other player-made content are becoming big business. Decentralized protocols could establish marketplaces where content creators are fairly compensated without centralized middlemen taking large cuts. New monetization models may even incentivize higher production values.
While technical challenges around performance and scalability for blockchain gaming remain, the problems of in-game economies, governance and extensibility are well-aligned with capabilities of decentralized finance systems. Projects are actively working to integrate NFTs, DAO-based community management and interoperable item ownership. The substantial existing gaming community also provides a large target market to test solutions.
My favourite game is a blockchain based TCG (Trading Card Game) called Gods Unchained.
It contains all the elements mentioned and is a fantastic onramp for anyone looking to explore crypto and how it intersects with gaming culture.
User-generated content further bolsters the case for integration. The ability to tokenize creations as NFTs opens new monetization opportunities for the gamer-turned-creator. With lower barriers to production through AI-assistance, a thriving creator economy could emerge. Decentralized marketplaces may even incentivize cross-pollination of content between different game universes. This would fulfill the original promise of the blockchain to allow free movement of digital assets.
In summary, while general proposals for AI on blockchain have yet to prove real value, the combination is showing more potential application in the sizable and motivated gaming sector. Both economic problems and the rise of UGC (User Generated Content) are well-aligned with capabilities of decentralized systems. Further work to integrate NFTs, DAOs and interoperability could establish blockchain gaming as an early proving ground for the intersection of these technologies.
Decentralization May Unlock New Paradigms of Digital Identity
Look at all these totally authentic and real people.
Younger demographics (those darn kids) are particularly driving interest in decentralized technologies. For emerging generations who have come of age online, self-expression is a core need that current centralized platforms do not fully satisfy. Services prioritize profitability over permitting raw authenticity, constraining users to curated versions of themselves. Instagram may as well have been considered AI generated long before AI content started taking over the platform.
This is exacerbated by the rise of AI image and language models that can generate synthetic media. Deepfakes and generative content blur the line between reality and fiction, further threatening our ability to assert an undisputed digital identity. Decentralized networks offer an alternative by providing users control over their representations and interactions through self-sovereign identity systems.
If combined with assistive AI agents, these technologies may give rise to new paradigms of self-actualization. Creativity tools and public assertion of authentic attributes on a global scale become possible. For the first time, individuals could freely inhabit digital worlds as their true selves rather than filtered brand-friendly avatars. If you are reading this article on LinkedIn for example, then I'm sure you have the self awareness to know that almost no one posting on LinkedIn is being their Authentic Self(tm).
This accords with emerging attitudes that see technology as a means to become one's real self rather than feel constrained by it.
Freedom and Ownership Are Key Drivers for Creators
"A creative man is motivated by the desire to achieve, not by the desire to beat others." - Ayn Rand
Freedom and control over intellectual property are also important drivers for further development at the intersection of AI and blockchain. Currently, creators lack true ownership over their work online as platforms maintain rights over any content shared through their services. This leaves little incentive for higher production values.
Blockchain protocols could establish new models where artists are fairly compensated through direct fan funding and secondary markets. With control over their work through self-custody, motivation to develop followings and engage in world-building may increase. If combined with AI, entire universes could be constructed and shared under independent ownership. This fulfills the decentralized ethos of permissionless creation and distribution without centralized intermediaries. Crypto is more than just finance and connecting through AI feels like it could be the next big thing.
However, while each individual blockchain provides a degree of sovereignty, true freedom of movement remains limited without interoperability between separate networks. The ability to port creations like characters, settings or even entire storylines between different virtual worlds becomes an important factor for long term viability and user experience. Generalized solutions for cross-chain communication and asset transfer are still emerging.
Trustless Bridging Between Networks Unlocks the Potential of AI Agents
"The universe is change; our life is what our thoughts make it." - Marcus Aurelius
For a fully realized vision of a "Multiverse" where users can freely inhabit virtual worlds as their true selves, an underlying protocol must provide the necessary foundations of scale and interoperability. While individual blockchains offer a degree of decentralization, each remains a separate network without a common standard for cross-chain communication.
Proposals for generalized interoperability through centralized bridge mechanisms do not fulfill the permissionless ethos of decentralized blockchains. Bridges act as intermediaries, limiting the speed of transactions until confirmations are received. For high-frequency interactions like those expected between AI agents, such delays are a barrier.
New architectures utilizing parallel computation across dedicated blockspaces show more promise. Projects implementing such solutions demonstrate how fast, trustless bridging can be achieved between separate decentralized networks through shared standards like Cosmos IBC. This allows the movement of not just tokens but entire smart contracts, permitting true portability of digital assets and worlds.
With a scalable underlying protocol, the vision of a "Multiverse" of interconnected virtual worlds could become reality. Users would gain full control and sovereignty over their online identities and creations. AI agents could seamlessly transact across realms, cooperating to realize their principal's visions at a scope only limited by imagination. Freedom of expression in its truest form may at last be achieved.
The Potential of a Decentralized Future of Boundless Expression
"Where there is no vision, the people perish." - Proverbs 29:18
In closing, further development of scalable and interoperable blockchain protocols holds promise to realize the "Multiverse" and empower self-expression through AI. By allowing for high-throughput interactions between decentralized networks, the technical foundations for a new paradigm of digital living may emerge.
Areas like gaming demonstrate interoperability remains a limitation. With solutions for fast, trustless cross-chain transfers, entire universes could seamlessly port across platforms. Combined with AI assistance, the scope of worlds and stories would be limited only by our imagination.
For emerging generations who see technology as a means of becoming one's authentic self, such systems may provide the control and freedom currently lacking in centralized services. New cultural paradigms of self-actualization could arise when individuals inhabit virtual spaces as their unfiltered selves through AI agents.
I for one am absolutely loving the journey. I hope you will continue to follow me on it.
