A new paradigm, beyond our corporate-dominated modern world, is drawing near. The emergence of network-centric systems that significantly reduce the need for centralised control is the leading edge of a whole new way of social organisation. I’m not quite sure the term ‘postmodern’, which has been associated with people escaping the modern paradigm, does it justice. This is a highly sophisticated worldview that’s tech-reliant but also humanistic, with great concern for personal freedoms and social justice. It’s also an evolutionary response to the peaking of our modern paradigm, which has gone to extremes lately in a doomed attempt to maintain centralised control.

The digital currency Bitcoin has lead the way in demonstrating a practical method of decentralised control using blockchain technology. While our current financial systems rely on centralised accounting, the blockchain idea provides financial incentives for anyone with sufficient computing power to maintain transparent and reliable bulk transaction records. The fact that multiple records are kept by independent sources widely distributed across the Internet makes this system very reliable and less prone to corruption, provided communications security measures are adequate. The blockchain idea seems both scalable and transferable to other industries, so in time it may allow societies to supercede many of our centrally controlled government and corporate systems, replacing them with what are being called Decentralised Autonomous Organisations (DAO). These DAO may prove to be more efficient, more accessible and less prone to corruption or collapse.

Read more about the rise of blockchain here: http://www.cityam.com/205708/farewell-corporate-power-how-rise-blockchain-could-change-everything