The exponential age: technologies that may converge with crypto

Many people believe we are on the brink of 'the exponential age' whereby a plethora of exponentially growing technologies complement each other to accelerate human advancements beyond the paces we are familiar with. These technologies often come without the physical limiting factors of the prior industrial revolutions we have witnessed.

Some examples of these technologies are:

• AI
• Blockchain
• Gene editing
• Self-driving vehicles
• Robotics
• Nanotechnology
• Augmented reality

It can be difficult to know where we are along the lifespan of an exponential growth curve.

At time A, the exponential growth is not noticeable. At B, it is glaringly obvious.

These graphs often look like dreaming, our heads are not really used to thinking of exponential mathematics in everyday life. However, to give just one example. The classic 'Moores Law' to predict the pace of computational power of AI growth has been vastly outperformed in the last 5 years. The same can be said about crypto adoption, and internet adoption prior to that.

Due to this inability to think in an exponential manner, it can be hard to make predictions on how these technologies will grow. Add to the fact that many of these technologies are converging and compounding their growth, it can get exciting!

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Taking the example of the internet, in the early days it was a very steep learning curve. Now the majority of the world uses it every single day, built into their mobile phone without really even thinking of it. Today, crypto is undoubtedly a steep learning curve. However, despite that barrier, the adoption rate is keeping up with that of the internet. If this continues, we could be heading from early adopters to mass adoption. For that, crypto would likely need to become much easier to use and something you don't even think about, much like the internet today.

Internet adoption vs crypto adoption

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So based on where we are today, at a time where many different technologies seem to be rapidly advancing...

What technologies/fields do you see converging in the future?

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Reading:

• If you want a good read on this topic, see this book by Azeem Azhar: The Exponential Age: How Accelerating Technology Is Transforming Business, Politics and Society
• This paper gives a good intro into some of the convergence that blockchain technology is undergoing: https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fbloc.2020.522600/full