Is it possible to have distributed networks with the convenience of centralized services? Especially when centralized services seem the most practical option? Think of Google, WhatsApp and Facebook, but also institutions like banks and governments. Despite all the data leaks, micro-targeting, surveillance, and privacy intrusions, these services are pretty damn convenient to use. And they’re...
Why decentralization? – Part I
Why is decentralization so important? It's what cryptocurrency seems to be all about. Yet I couldn’t really put my finger on what it means exactly, or why it is important. Neither could anyone I asked.
In three posts, I'm trying to get a grip on why decentralization feels intuitively correct, while at the same time being hard to characterize.
What autonomous machines could mean for sustainable agriculture
If robots can autonomously plant, nurture, and harvest crops, agriculture can become more efficient economically and ecologically.
The opportunity cost of gadgets in the fight against climate change
Technology can be our savior in averting extreme climate change. But technology will not do that by default, because in the end it is just another tool that has to be handled properly to be useful. Using the wrong tech, or using the tech wrong will result in opportunity costs that harm its potential. Instead, before solving the tech we must better define what the tech should solve. In this post...
Natural ecosystems to inspire machine ecosystems
The Machine Economy track at the 2018 Blockchaingers Hackathon asks teams to build a machine-to-machine-ecosystem, that disrupts our current system, and that is beneficial to society. This is not an easy task and it can be hard knowing where to start. Maybe nature can provide some inspiration. Let’s look at how ecosystems are organized, and how nature is abundant towards all participants...
Algorithms inspired by swarm behaviour
With autonomous machines you almost automatically touch on swarming. But what is swarming? There are two ways of looking at it: how and why. By imitating the how, we might get some nice optimizations, but the why is where the real benefits are. Locust preventing collisions Locust filter out excess stimuli to have enough brain capacity to react to relevant signals. It only recognizes movements...