What's going to happen when automation takes over 90% of the jobs? What's going to happen when slave labor and indentured servitude become obsolete? What's going to happen when sustainable energy trumps Big Oil and resources are abundant? Either something very good or something very bad is approaching us; probably both at the same time.

Humanity has been in a phase of exponential growth ever since the industrial revolution. Year after year, advancing technology allows us to create more food, shelter, and potable water than ever before. Our mobility is unprecedented. We can go anywhere on the planet in less than 24 hours. We can communicate with anyone on the planet in seconds. However, all this advancement has a price.

The resources of Mother Earth are abundant, and we've taken her for everything she's got. Like a cancer, we've spread to every part of the globe, leaving a trail of garbage in our wake. Our governments, and indeed, our entire way of life, revolves around a system of unsustainable growth. This is going to change, one way or another. There is an easy way, or The Hard Goodbye.

When I look at humanity from an evolutionary standpoint I don't see evolved monkeys. I see ants. We are part of a hive. Each one of us has our own little function from queen to worker drone. The drones have reshaped the entire planet as the queens see fit. The Earth is our anthill. What happens when the drones are no longer necessary to the queens?

Purge

If the elite has an army of robots to do their bidding, the rest of us are simply taking up space and sucking down resources that could be re-purposed back to the Bourgeoisie. If things continue down this stale path, a purge is coming, either artificial or natural, and the poorest among us will certainly perish. Capitalism at it's finest. The pyramid still retains its shape if the bottom layer sinks into the ground.

Blockchain to the rescue (hopefully)

Blockchain technology has the power to reshape our entire way of life. It can create sleek and agile decentralized direct democracy governments that are resistant to corruption and quick to evolve. It can reward citizens for maintaining balance in the ecosystem instead of promoting perpetual growth. It can resurrect community, alleviate apathy and depression, and encourage work ethic.

@dan's blockchains are a clear push to replace stale old governments with the blockchain. Delegated Proof of Stake is the perfect starting point to transition traditional republics to a new system. Simply change Delegated Proof of Stake to Delegated Proof of Existence and you've got yourself a direct democracy and/or republic all in one.

Blockchain is backed by nothing.

This tired argument is not only invalid but also soon™ to be totally irrelevant by even the people who cling to it. Like any currency in existence today, the value of it is simply backed by the trust that it's worth something. People trust cryptocurrency because it's decentralized nature means no single entity controls it. The ignorant can try to claim that USD is backed by the GDP, as if the GDP is somehow in control of monetary inflation and distribution. The truth is, the value of the dollar is 100% backed by trusting the Federal Reserve, whose name in itself is a farce.

Blockchain backed by community and trust.

The first step blockchain technology has to take in order to slap down the naysayers starts with a small community. We might as well call it a commune. It's actually foolish that no communes have actually created their own currency yet, but that's off topic.

(On a side note I'd like to point out that Googling "commune" and even "commune pictures" reveals a disabled images tab. I find this to be significant. The establishment doesn't want the general population to have the ability to go off the grid. The establishment always promotes competition over cooperation. They want everyone to be divided so they can be lorded over.)

Anyway, in order for blockchain tech to stop being viewed as a joke by the majority of the population it needs to provide jobs, goods, and services. Clearly, the foundation of a solid blockchain government will involve the production of food, water, and shelter. After this comes the secondary infrastructure like electricity, Internet, and roads. Once this happens, all that "blockchain backed by nothing" bullshit fades away.

The nice thing about blockchain communities is that you can skip one or all of these primary services and simply piggy back on top of the old establishment. This is what we see now. It's been a nice starting out point but it's time to get real. The only jobs that blockchain provides right now involve securing the network. POW gives you money to hash and POS gives you money to stake an investment. Steem tries to pay people blog. It's a start, but it's a clear sign that we are in an infancy stage. The bears cannot take us seriously because they have no vision or trust that we will achieve what we claim we will. This is a totally understandable viewpoint. We have to prove ourselves.

What comes next?

Let's assume decentralized communities exist and they provide all the basic needs required to survive. No one is going to want the shit jobs so they'll be automated. This will work out because instead of the profit of automation going to a centralized entity it will be dispersed in the form of universal basic income or some other decentralized system. When the basic needs of the community are met and very little human labor is required for those services this brings freedom to all citizens of the community. People will be free to do whatever they want. What will they do?

Entertainment

This is why I think the future of blockchain is entertainment. Technology already insures that our basic needs can be met with little work-hours being put in. Blockchain provides the system with which to decentralize the distribution of those resources. When a community is free to do whatever they want they'll "get paid to _____". Simply fill in the blank with anything people want to do and that their blockchain government has decided they can get paid for it.

Embrace the coming age of abundance. We are capable of so much more if we can remove the needless friction from the economy and government. Cooperation trumps competition in a corruption resistant environment.

Return from Entertainment is the Future of Blockchain (and the Human Race in General) to edicted's Web3 Blog