Blockchain reshapes human community ecology: evolution from social, community to community

Source / “ Everyone understands blockchain ''

Production / Blockchain Base Camp

Editor's note: The original title was "Blockchain Reshapes the Human Community Ecology"

Throughout human history, ethnicization, communityization, and communityization are the natural results of social evolution.

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From the family and the village, religion and political parties, to the interest groups and various clubs, they are all forms of community organization. Although there have been similarities and differences for thousands of years, the form of community links has not changed much. It uses "space boundaries" as the first principle and relies on blood, geography, belief, economy, law, and even guns to build people Stable structure for small-scale interaction between people.

It wasn't until the advent of the Internet that this small and narrow traditional social frontier was broken. People can easily create links through the Internet, cross ethnic nations, break through time and space, and communicate freely. But this kind of link just dismantled the traditional community ’s partition wall, shortened the distance and cost between people, and did not really build a sticky, self-trusting community ecology, which is a weak link. .

The emergence of blockchain technology will turn this weak link into a strong link. Its decentralized features break the boundaries of traditional Internet information dissemination and value transmission, and based on the Internet, it creates economic benefits for community participants through token incentives, and establishes a consensus on community beliefs through consensus.

Evolution from social, community to community

Although the form of community organization has been born for a long time, the rise of the concept of community came after the birth of the Internet. For the earliest group gathering phenomenon on the Internet, people call it "virtual community". The famous sociologist Howard Rheingold put forward the concept of "virtual community" in his book "The Virtual Community": people link to each other through the Internet, break through geographical restrictions, communicate with each other, share information and knowledge, Forming similar hobbies and emotional resonance, this special network of relationships is a "virtual community."

Today, more than two decades have passed, and the Internet world is still changing. From Web 1.0 to Web 2.0, and then to the mobile Internet; from the original BBS, blog, and Weibo to the current WeChat and various social applications; from the network form based on information and content interaction to the value-based and spiritual interaction. The main characteristics of the network form. The interpersonal link kernel has also undergone an evolution from social, community to community.

1. Early Internet: Webmasters and Bloggers in the Community

The Internet was originally created by a group of tech geeks called "geeks" who spontaneously came together to create the Internet world because of their obsession with technology. Now it seems that this move itself has the essential characteristics of community linking-bringing people together based on certain needs and hobbies. The outbreak of the Internet also started from community websites. At that time, personal webmasters prevailed, and communities were often formed. Tianya, Maopu and Xici Hutong were once the "unicorns" of that era.

Later, with the development of technology and the disillusionment of the first Internet bubble, in 2004, Dale Dougherty, the Internet pioneer of O'Reilly, first mentioned the concept of Web 2.0. The era of decentralization in which everyone is a creator has arrived. . Compared to the era of personal webmasters, Web 2.0 pays more attention to user interaction, and users are both viewers and producers of website content. In the mode, it has developed from "reading" to "writing" and "joint construction"; from passively receiving Internet information to actively creating Internet information, it has become more humane.

In this era, "one-to-many" and "many-to-many" transmission modes coexist. RSS, blogs, podcasts, wikis, P2P downloads, social bookmarking, SNS, community, and sharing services have become very important elements in Web 2.0. Because it broke the information monopoly of webmasters or editors, personal value has never been respected.

However, in this era, the magic box of the Internet has only opened up a small space. In the PC era, LBS had nowhere to play. Xici Hutong, the 19th floor, blog world, and those QQ groups that started with XX place names can only satisfy the dreams of the 70s and 80s who were full of hormones to explore the world. The world of the Internet has evolved, as Canadian thinker McLuhan has said-to become part of the extension of the body's organs, in fact after the popularity of smartphones.

2. Mobile Internet:

The rise of the community On July 11, 2008, the iPhone 3G was officially released with pre-installed iPhone OS 2.0 and App Store. On January 21, 2011, WeChat released the first version 1.0. Through mobile phones, the mobile Internet has directly penetrated the wild fields with unprecedented penetration, and quickly occupied the vast land. Many rural families have not even touched their computers, so they can exchange messages with people on the other side of the globe directly through their mobile phone WeChat.

At this time, mobile smart terminals have become an extended "organ" for people. Information communication, payment, entertainment, and social networking are all addressed in one package. Slowly, communities-based markets such as various WeChat groups and public accounts are formed. Others have made the community a "small-scale market", advertised, and sold products.

Today, cloud computing, big data, and artificial intelligence are developing rapidly. At the same time, although many people are unwilling to admit it, the blockchain technology that originated in a 2008 Satoshi Nakamoto paper is also quietly changing the world and becoming the hottest topic today.

3. Community vs. Social vs. Community

Social is an innate need of human beings, and there will be social where people are. The Internet community is formed on a social basis through certain forms and links, and is a group organization centered on content, topics, and interests. With the evolution of technology and the development of the times, as shown in Table 22-1, communities rely on institutionalized management, output oriented to targeted groups, and the interaction between people is a cross-connected relationship, which has replaced communities. The community is inevitable.

Compared with the community, the community relies heavily on the manager (moderator) organization, adopts centralized management, and outputs no specific groups. The main purpose of individuals entering the community is to obtain content, and there is no sense of community belonging. People are interested by interest. Scattered weak relationships established by hobbies … These have all kinds of hidden dangers for the decline of the community, mainly manifested in the following three points.

① The boundaries of the community and the system are closed, laying a hidden danger for its decline. Based on the links of the community, the boundaries are too obvious, and the major central nodes between the communities cannot communicate freely.

② The community fails to form a stable consensus and a unified belief, making the community easily replaced by emerging species. The essence of the Internet is a decentralized cluster community. A solid community needs a personified belief center.

③ The failure of the community to form a stable interest link is the root cause of its decline. The longevity of everything, in addition to the emotional binding of the spiritual level, must also have an economic level of interest mechanism. Otherwise, after a period of enthusiasm and inspiration, a group of people called "Why It's Profitable" gradually withdrew from the stage of history as the age and passion diminished, and the community was lacking, and its decline was irreversible.

Blockchain and the reshaping of the value of the community economy

1. The nature of the community: freedom and democracy

The desire for freedom has spawned a higher-dimensional community. On the basis of the community, the community realizes self-organization and self-operation based on certain interests, values, emotions, and beliefs. Individuals entering the community can gain connections, establish credit, and meet the needs of a sense of belonging and security.

The community itself is interdependent with the community. However, with the increasing diversity of social tools, the community will inevitably move from an independent community to the entire Internet, from a "community under the community" to a "community-based community". QQ group, WeChat group, SNS, Forums, Weibo, and public accounts can all become communities' survival platforms. In this way, community members do not depend on the same fixed community platform. They can be independent individuals scattered across each platform, linked together by the same unity of belief, and then in each community tool. Cross back and forth between them to form a loose community.

Scenarios are products, and products are communities. Once a community is formed, its commercial value cannot be underestimated, and members of the community pay for the product, which is more solid than the community's motivation to rely solely on third-party payment (advertising). As shown in Figure 22-1, a community is a loose gathering of people, and a community is a chain of people, things, and things in the scene.

2. Pain points of the community

Although the emergence of communities has social networks, interpersonal relationships, psychologically deep foundations, and cultural motivations, in the traditional Internet era, which is dominated by information dissemination, its pain points remain indestructible.

Throughout the past, most of the communities were served by high-quality content providers, very few were community managers and investors, and most were just content acquirers.

Most of the community participants can only find a sense of existence and belonging among them, but community building, benefit distribution, and value development cannot benefit everyone. Furthermore, the value of the community is generated between a minority and a very small number of people, and then shared and disseminated by the vast majority of participants, but the final benefit is distributed between the minority and a very small number of people. In this way, the value stream and the income stream are closed in a small range.

That is to say, the community is based on the improvement of the community. However, due to the traditional technology, it has not been freed from the centralized architecture design and content arrangement. It cannot be obtained in the scened experience that everyone participates and everyone benefits. The continuous reconstruction of value cannot perfectly solve the three major pain points of the community on the road to freedom and democracy:

① borders and mechanisms;

② benefits and values;

③ Consensus and belief.

3. Community building under the blockchain

The emergence of blockchain technology makes people look brighter, as if they have grabbed a key to open a new hall of the community economy.

The blockchain network is multiplied by the network, trust builds trust, and the value is infinitely transmitted. It is essentially connected with the community's network link form. Therefore, blockchain technology can bring about some revolutionary changes in eradicating community pain points, and for community building and sustainable development.

(1) Breaking the border

The blockchain's link mechanism helps break the boundaries of information dissemination and value transfer. Decentralized blockchain technology implements a common accounting method for all network nodes. The more complex the network, the more nodes, the more secure the blockchain network, and the greater the value. This link interacts between individuals or groups with different socio-economic characteristics. It crosses different sources of information and breaks boundaries, making the contributions of participants become value. The wider the participants, the higher the value. The consensus of all people in the community, the trust of all people, and the participation of all people are the basis of its value generation.

(2) Token incentive

The tokenization of assets brought about by blockchain technology allows equity to have higher liquidity, caters to the interests of participants, and satisfies the development logic of the capital world. The value of the token in the hands of the participants depends on the overall network value. Everyone participates and everyone trusts. Only distributed peer-to-peer investment is possible. The more the investment, the higher the value. Conversely, the less trusted a blockchain network is, the more worthless it is. This form of development based on network superimposed geometric numbers satisfies the need for trust and promotes the further coagulation of social capital, thus giving each participant the opportunity to obtain economic benefits.

(3) Building faith

The protocol network for blockchain value transmission is developed based on consensus algorithms, which establishes a universal belief between each node. This is more like a barter in the free economic model, and a product of a consensus initiative culture system. This is inconsistent with the information Internet based on the HTTP Hypertext Transfer Protocol for information for trust. Therefore, as a link between community members, there is a consistency from value consensus to spiritual belief. Their attitude towards community ecology also rises from the initial level of identification and obedience to active maintenance and sworn defense.

4. Blockchain reshapes the community economy

In the traditional community economy, value is created by very few people, and ordinary users do not have continuous motivation to participate in value creation. The application of blockchain technology has made Token integrate into the traditional community, and personal roles have undergone subversive upheavals.

(1) From "soda sauce" to benefit holders

Whether you are creating excellent content, recommending excellent content, or being a community manager, or even you are "playing soy sauce", the system can use Token as a reward. The amount of reward is determined by the system mechanism and consensus algorithm. The value of the token is tied to the value of the community, which means that the greater the value generated by the community, the higher the value of the token. The user's role is no longer just a platform user, but also a platform's interest holder. Naturally hope that the platform develops well, fundamentally changes the user's behavior model, and naturally completes the identity change from consumer to investor.

(2) From community participants to managers

In the traditional investment model, holding part of a company's equity does not mean that it can enjoy management rights of the company. However, the emergence of Token, through the participation mechanism of consensus constraint, community participants naturally have opportunities for community management. The logic of participation is that in a specific specific direction, community participants research, publicize, and create influence, and apply for the right to create and manage the section. In essence, whether the management right can be obtained does not depend on how much the currency is held, but on the amount of influence in the project.

(3) From manager to advertising operator

Take a cryptocurrency community in China as an example. The theme section is a "shop" managed and operated by the store. The more popular the section is, the higher the value of the advertisement at the top of the section, so the management team can get more corresponding income. Promote other sections of the management team to follow suit to produce better content.

All in all, blockchain technology has brought true democracy and freedom, giving the "personal role" a new position, each participant can get corresponding returns, greatly shortening the feedback process from giving to gain, and establishing a The ecology of the cycle of " paying-benefit (value-added)-repaying ". Furthermore, the application of the blockchain and the emergence of the Token have changed the value stream and income stream, so that ordinary users can also create value and obtain income, so that a small-scale closed loop of value stream and income stream can be opened, allowing more Of participants are able to give and get paid.

In view of this advantage, the community empowers participants, and participants get corresponding rewards through proof of work. Not only can it get value, but it can also show its own value, and then get benefits and fair distribution. Value and risk are shared to truly realize the positive interaction between users and the community.

Blockchain civilization formed by the super community

If the emergence of the information Internet based on the TCP / IP protocol has rapidly reduced the cost of human interaction, then the blockchain-based value Internet is expanding the horizontal revolution of human organizations from the field of production to other areas of human society Sooner or later, the thinking network inside each of our brains will be merged into that extremely expanded external network, thereby completely changing the traditional "subject-object" cognitive model of human beings. And this change will start from the super community.

Super community

Communities start with people's pursuit of existence, belonging, and freedom. On this basis, blockchain technology provides natural conditions for community participants to create economic benefits, which further strengthens members' recognition of the community.

At the same time, due to the shape of the social network in the blockchain mode, it has the effect of a network multiplier, which means that communities can break boundaries and widely connect, and further dismantle the psychological barrier between people in traditional communities. wall.

As Parag Khanna puts it in the book, "Connectography: Mapping the Future of Global Civilization": "Global Mapping of Global Supply Chains, Super Cities, and New Commercial Civilization" The decentralization and convergence of sovereignty, cities and urban agglomerations will become the future trend, and the boundaries and management boundaries of cities will become weaker and weaker due to the derivation of production factors and culture, and the super cities will follow. In contrast to the symbiosis and development between communities in recent years, the alliance of "super communities" is slowly emerging. Its manifestation has the following two aspects.

① A large community will form a subgroup through community empowerment and internal fission. The emergence of this subgroup based on "internal empowerment" is like the popular "internal entrepreneurship" or ecological enterprise in large enterprises, which is a benign fission and makes the ecology rich and diverse, and has extraordinary vitality. .

② Communities and communities can also reach consensus through technology and contracts to communicate the existence of each other. With the introduction of the Token mechanism, changes in production relationships will not only occur within the community, but the collaborative relationship between the community and the community will also be rewritten. In the alliance mode between communities, tokens can be exchanged for each other, which provides a convenient way for some participants with demand transformation between communities to achieve complementary effects between communities. For example, Bitcoin, ETH, and EOS represent the "Token" of three different communities. The exchange and circulation between them is equivalent to the exchange of value. In the future, there will be more and more such exchanges, and division of labor and cooperation will become more frequent.

2. Blockchain civilization

Relying on intra-group empowerment and inter-group circulation, super communities and community alliances will become a dominant trend in the future. This trend will greatly promote the transformation of existing civilized organizational forms and accelerate the formation of blockchain civilization.

In traditional civilized organizations, national boundaries represent the isolation of nations. Different regimes emphasize the sovereignty of their own country and restrict the flow of people, capital, resources, and technology. In the interconnected era, countries must choose to connect with other countries and other regions. The power of connection exceeds the power of politics and military.

However, contrary to expectations, on the one hand, different sovereign countries around the world have built infrastructure to build supply chains to achieve the connection of resources, production, services, and consumption; on the other hand, they have continued to compete for power and new trade. Wars and arms races are one after another, full of trade barriers and firewalls, and deep trenches and high barriers all over the world.

The development and application of blockchain technology will make it possible to transcend sovereignty barriers by reshaping the community. Blockchain technology promotes the development and growth of independent communities. This is the strengthening effect of blockification, and it is also a reflection of the strong connection of social networks. A truly high-dimensional, high-value community doesn't stop at meeting social needs, but provides trust-based identities and meeting the needs of the scene. At the same time, the community shares resources and prosperity through intra-group empowerment and inter-group circulation.

Concluding Remarks: New Changes in the Organizational Form of Human Civilization

The form of human interaction determines to a large extent the scale of human society and human ability to recognize the world.

From clan to party, from community to community, the organizational form of human interaction is constantly breaking the boundaries of time and space, and it is also constantly building more trust between people, and in the process of changing human society, continuously Collaboration and exchange on a larger scale.

The emergence of the super community under the blockchain technology will once again promote the new transformation of human civilization organization. Its distributed, decentralized, consensus mechanism and other features will reshape the new community economy, change the roles and identities of participants, and bring the community closer to its essence-existence, belongingness, that is, democracy and freedom.

On the one hand, the super community opens the value stream and revenue stream, thereby benefiting all users and truly achieving a win-win growth for the community and users. On the other hand, it has returned to the spirit of democracy and provided the technical conditions for realizing the free association of free people as predicted by Marx, but the transformation of the organizational form of human civilization will also be a long-term process.

Super community is a pre-judgment of the shape of the social network under the blockchain model. Do you agree with such a pre-judgment? Some people say that although the blockchain community is initially bound by Token, it will eventually be bound by faith. What do you think of this statement? How will the community under the blockchain civilization eventually evolve?

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