Inspiring Consensus
Issue 17
The power to inspire a shared belief of the future is what changes the world. Technology firms deeply want to create consensus in order to push and shape that universal roadmap. After all, sometimes it’s easier to create the future than to just predict it. If everyone has a shared belief of what is possible or what should exist then it inevitably becomes true over time.
Generally, people want the world to be a better place for them and their future generations.
To really simplify these dynamics— there’s two components to pushing a new technology shift forward:
Convincing everyone that what you’re building actually makes the world better
There’s economic or social value for those who build, get involved, or participate in it
When it comes to driving forward that shared view of the future for a technology firm- it starts with evangelizing your employees then developers then partners and ultimately consumers. Technology adoption is not always linear and so you often run into a chicken or egg issue where companies don’t want to invest in a space until there’s a critical mass of users. Similarly, users often don’t want to participate in a platform until it’s flush with diverse content. This is also where startups sometimes have an advantage- they can pivot faster and have an easier time getting their employee base fired up.
Trust is also an important lever when it comes to building consensus. There is a leap of faith when it comes to adopting new technology and so a track record of delivering on value is inherently important.
It was incredible to witness the meteoric rise of NFTs and crypto in 2021. Many web3 projects helped drive consensus by making people believe they had a share in the decentralized future where value could accrue to early believers. Projects and web3 marketplaces went gangbusters. In a short span of a couple months, the price of certain digital jpegs jumped to millions of dollars even though there was limited utility. There was a shared belief that value would flow to the new communities that were verified on the blockchain given the encoded scarcity.
The decentralized web3 vision at the time ultimately fell flat since the ecosystem was filled more with speculators than real users who could be retained on the platform. That’s not to say collecting jpegs or being a part of a digital community isn’t a cool concept, but perhaps it won’t be the catalyst that restructures our society as originally anticipated.
Regardless, there is always a sense of delusion when it comes to creating a future that doesn’t yet exist and I’ll always tip my hat to the folks that give it a shot. As seen in history, people who are crazy enough to think they can change the world are the ones that ultimately do.