Some preliminary writing about decentralisation of citizenship and education
“Bildungship” and “bildungzens” through decentrlisation and networking
This article includes terms and ideas that are unknown for many adult readers. Therefore, to explain how the following technological and social development can contribute to the development of Bildung around the world, the article is divided into different sections explaining the following terms:
- Artificial Intelligence
- Blockchains
- Cryptocurrencies
- Distributed ledger technology
- Decentralised citizenships and apps
- Network states and cities
- Web 3
Cryptocurrencies
Cryptocurrencies are decentralized digital currencies created and governed by individuals or communities. One of the main definitions of cryptocurrencies is that they are not created, governed, or controlled by governments or public institutions such as central banks. While central banks mainly govern public currencies through technocratic methods, cryptocurrencies can be governed democratically by community members who participate in them.
Today, over 20,000 cryptocurrencies exist, most used to earn large sums of money and maximize profit. At the same time, there are examples of cryptocurrencies used for more non-profit and community-driven actions. One example is the ReFi category, which stands for regenerative finance, focusing on factors of climate change, sustainability, and ecology. There are also more locally used “community inclusion currencies” (CIC) that can be both public and cryptocurrencies. In such categories, cryptocurrencies are used to support or maintain for example, social projects, regenerative agriculture, and educational applications.
There are also other examples of cryptocurrencies being used for using, gaming and set tokenization. In their design, cryptocurrencies are global and borderless in principle, but they can also be created in more "glocal" with a focus on local levels of transactions, projects and human interactions.
Blockchains
All cryptocurrencies operate on a decentralized system comprising digital storage blocks called blockchain. A blockchain is often described as a distributed ledger and decentralized database. The first cryptocurrency created in 2008 was Bitcoin, which has its own blockchain. Today, there are different blockchains, including Telos, which are considered more climate-friendly regarding energy usage.
The key feature of a blockchain is that its blocks are critical for making a transaction possible or impossible. For a transaction to be possible and approved, all interacting blocks need to cooperate and respond to each other. Another key feature of the blockchain system is its transparency and immutability. One can say that "what happens on the blockchain stays on the blockchain,” including transactions such as payments, contracts, or publications.
One ambition is for blockchain to increase transparency and reduce corruption. Both blockchain and cryptocurrencies are also referred to as peer-to-peer technologies enabling decentralized actions where two actors, such as individuals and/or organizations, can make a transaction without “middlemen” such as governments or banks.
Decentralized apps (Dapps)
Most people worldwide today use applications or apps on their smartphones. Apps are part of our everyday lives, and we use them for everything from training and health to gaming and banking. Because of decentralized or DLT technology, such as blockchains, it is easier and more common today for others to create apps than profit-driven organizations like companies. Instead, individuals and communities often make decentralized apps or apps for different ambitions and purposes.
Dapps are often made using open-source technology and cooperation, meaning that dapps can be created with less money and time spent. Thanks to decentralized methods, creating or modifying apps through integration is easy. One example of dapps usage is when it comes to education for creating learning platforms and virtual schools as Odyssey DAO co-owned, governed, and improved by the users. This means decentralizing technology is also democratizing since it makes it easier for users to cooperate, engage, and co-create actions and solutions.
One key feature of decentralization is that cooperation, and even co-creation, becomes more accessible and efficient than competition. Thus, decentralization and "co-values" are part of the same story, where humans can use decentralized technology to practice ideas and behaviors such as collective wisdom, delegative democracy, and circular economics. Also, decentralized solutions are very secure since the absence of a centralized system or unit makes it much harder to hacking, fraud and corrupt behaviors.
Web3
Web3 is the next generation of the Internet, built on blockchain technology. Its critical feature is decentralization, which means spreading control and ownership across many people instead of just one company or person.
In today's internet, which we can call Web2, as with Google and Microsoft, most of the services and sites you use are controlled by a few big companies. They store your data, manage how services are run, and make the rules. Suppose one of these companies has a server failure or decides to change the rules. In that case, it can hugely affect your experience and access.
In contrast, Web3 uses blockchain to distribute that control. Instead of one company having all the power, many different participants in the network have copies of all the transactions and data. This makes it very hard for any single person or group to take control or change things without everyone else agreeing.
Network states and cities
A more “radical” and younger example of decentralization is the creation and function of network states and cities. To understand what a network state is one can compare it with the nation-state concept. A nation-state, among other things, is a (political) nation that exists for a state and a state that exists for a nation. Nation-states operate within the international governance system, such as via the United Nations. A network state is a state that exists for a network and a network that exists for a state. Networks can be more local, more global, or both at the same time.
Network states are based on decentralized governance methods, such as using cryptocurrencies and delegative democracy. Compared to internationally recognized nation-states, no network state is currently a member of the UN. However, several initiatives and communities worldwide are constructing and practicing network states and cities. One typical factor for a network city is that it can be created within an existing federation like the USA.
For more understanding of the network state, I recommend reading Balaji Srinivasan's book, which is seen as the philosophical creator of the network-state idea, and also criticism towards his approach.
Decentralized citizenships
Because of the existence of network states and cities, the 2010s and the current decade are times of creation of early decentralized citizenships. To understand what citizenship means, one can keep three critical factors and examples in mind:
- Legality = freedoms, rights, obligations
- Affections = identification, collective purpose, peoplehood
- Participation = voting, paying taxes, community engagement
In practice, decentralized citizenships mean that one individual can have one or several citizenships, such as a digital passport, in a community without a central government and institutions, as in the case of nation-states. Decentralized citizenships are usually based on self-sovereign identity, where the individual digitally owns the identity. With SSI, one can cooperate and interact with others where transactions are stored on a blockchain, and payments are made in digital currencies or cryptocurrencies,
Another feature of decentralized citizenship is that it can be more local or more global in its design, function, and purpose. One such example is the Cabine community focusing on social well-being and ecological topics. For example, citizens of a network state, city, or virtual nation can cooperate, govern, and migrate around different parts of the world. This includes functions and services such as education since citizens can use decentralized technology to create and experiment with new solutions and systems.
Decentralized education and AI
The AI itself is not automatically a sign of decentralization because the AI can be used to centralize actions and behaviors as well. If you look at China, AI is already used for strengthening "dictatorship," meaning digital dictatorship.
At the same time, AI can contribute to the renewal and improvement of democracy and other education processes. As mentioned earlier, making apps and other education solutions with decentralized technology is more accessible today. However, humans need more than technology: other behaviors and values, such as empathy, meaning, community, etc. Humans learn through shared experiences and dialogues, in addition to individual self-studies. We also learn through play, training, and physical activities.
Decentralized education offers several opportunities. For example, it can be made more accessible worldwide, empowering people and enhancing human progress. Children and others can co-create constantly developed and modified educational methods, such as using AI programs for trial-error and bottom-up learning procedures. Also, decentralized technology makes spreading educational ideas and methods easier.
Possibilities for bildung for 21 st century
The current decentralization trend enables new opportunities and improvements. New methods and engagements can improve democracy, welfare, and education. Since complexity, communities, and co-creation are standard terms used among polymodern thinkers and bildungish individuals, decentralized technology makes it easier to practice and engage in these ideas and procedures. As humans, we need to be globally and locally technologically connected and full of complex awareness while maintaining everyday relations based on our emotions, experiences, and interpretations of social reality.
Regarding migration, decentralized citizenships and network states can complement but even compete with the concept of nation-states. Today, one of the key problems is that many humans are, for different reasons, forced to migrate in dangerous, unsafe, and inhumane ways. Also, we are still living in a world where billions of humans are either seen as undocumented or illegal. Another positive possibility is that humans could improve our actions regarding humanitarian migration and refugee reception if more people can engage in communities and decentralised initiatives focusing on integration, social adaptation, and cultural knowledge.
The current trend with decentralized technology can solve several problems by providing access to every human to own a legal identification, making migration freer and safer. However, when it comes to our social world, there is often a kind of mismatch and incompatibility between global problems and local identities and also between older (centralized) stories and institutions compared to new decentralized stories and institutions that can be co-created.
For example, instead of shelters and refugee camps, network cities and decentralized communities could be established where humans can access education, healthcare, welfare, and other necessities with the help of AI- and blockchain-driven systems and apps. Global problems and challenges preventing human security, progress, and rights can be solved through better social engagement and institutional interactions between local and global levels.
The Global Bildung network also offers new opportunities, such as creating Bildungship (Bildung citizenship) and thereby bildungzens (Bildung citizens), centers for learning and training, and cooperation with other decentralized initiatives, communities, and networks to spread Bildung ideas and methods. It is nothing new in history that Bildung ideas spread during the late 19th and early 20th centuries in Europe. What is new is that it is easier today to provide insights about and access to Bildung globally.
