News – World Institute of Diginomics

The Singularity Is Near

In 1993, professor Vernor Vinge of San Diego State University, published a paper predicting a point in the near future where technology itself would be capable of creating greater-than-human intelligence. This point, Vinge characterized, would see large computer networks and their associated users “wake up” as superhumanly-intelligent entities. In such a scenario, technology would be capable of improving upon itself in such rapid succession, that from the purely biological perspective, it would be seen as an “intelligence explosion”. This future point in time at which technological development irreversibly changes the conditions of human civilization, has come to be known as ‘The Singularity‘.

“This change will be a throwing-away of all the human rules, perhaps in the blink of an eye — an exponential runaway beyond any hope of control.

It’s fair to call this event a singularity. It is a point where our old models must be discarded and a new reality rules, a point that will loom vaster and vaster over human affairs until the notion becomes a commonplace. Yet when it finally happens, it may still be a great surprise and a greater unknown.”

– Vernor Vinge, Technological Singularity

Due to the rapid progression of fantastically powerful computer networks, this point of no return, the technological singularity, now appears more accurate and imminent than ever. The bitcoin network, for example, has demonstrated exponential growth in total hashrate since it first came online in 2009.

The uniqueness of the bitcoin network, and the manner in which the blockchain verifies large quantities of data, creates the perfect application for artificial intelligence to make sense of communication patterns (transfers of value) which appear seemingly unrelated to the untrained eye. Artificial intelligence will be capable of performing fantastic analysis of the data time-stamped into the bitcoin blockchain. These analyses will give rise to astonishingly accurate predictions. It will also give rise to entirely new, novel, and nefarious industries such as the concept of pre-crime (disruption, prevention, and incarceration of individuals for crimes yet to be committed).

When observing the development of smart-contracts within the cryptocurrency industry, namely the Ethereum Project, it becomes clear that Turing-completeness is very capable of being implemented ontop of blockchain technology. With a Turing-complete scripting language (such as Ethereum’s native Solidity language), large computer networks are capable of performing, for a fee, any operation that can be expressed logically and in mathematical terms. This ability for the blockchain to become Turing-complete is one of the main attractors to technologies such as Ethereum and is an attempt to introduce artificial intelligence to this new type of payment network.

“… the ever-accelerating progress of technology and changes in the mode of human life, which gives the appearance of approaching some essential singularity in the history of the race beyond which human affairs, as we know them, could not continue.” – John von Neumann

It is entirely likely, that in this “history of the race beyond which human affairs, as we know them, could not continue” will be characterized by technological unemployment. In the lead-up towards the point of singularity, employment positions which are occupied by machine intelligence will transition from routine-drudgery to positions of creative, political, and spiritual leadership. Automation will replace jobs once thought unattainable by machine intelligence. The work that is truly productive will be the vocation of a continuously smaller fraction of the human workforce. Owners of capital and the means to produce, will increasingly see a disproportionate growth in their accumulated wealth. Empowered by virtual networks, knowledge will spread almost instantaneously.

‘… even to the time of the end: many shall run to and fro, and knowledge shall be increased.’ – Daniel 12:4

Contrary to the belief of many in the bitcoin and cypherpunk industries, is the idea that the future will be more centralized than the past rather than an emerging era of decentralization. We will have a new living language, a new world currency, a one-world government (all nations rule internally resolving external disputes in a world court), and a one-world religion. With increased centralization comes the possibility of increased control. One of the main methods of control is surveillance and in order to achieve such a state of economic affairs, cashlessness is necessary. Cash will be outlawed.

“In truth, a clash of probable worlds is occurring on your globe between a world that is based on control through machines and technology vs. a world that is awakening to the value of nature and the spiritualization of matter.” – The Pleiadians

The prerequisite for all these things to occur is not only the increasing power of computer hardware but the intricacy of technology merging with biology. When brain-computer interfacing becomes so intertwined that the individual can no longer operate without their computerized assistant we can adequately determine that they have abdicated their humanity in favor of joining the new race of cyborgs.

The progression towards the singularity heralds a new Earth. This process, which could aptly be compared to a birthing process, will experience growing pains and periods of great strife. What the technological singularity entails is not entirely predictable. What is known however, is that it is inevitable.

Brace yourself, the singularity is near.

* Diginomics is the scientific and metaphysical study of numerical law. If you are interested in additional research, become a member. Only subscribing members are equipped with the wisdom necessary to fulfill their creative potential.

Mark of the Beast

Post author By Travis
Post date February 9, 2019

In many different religious teachings around the world, the number 666 is spoken of as the “mark of the beast”. Perhaps most notably, Christian theology describes the mark of the beast in detail in the Book of Revelation:

“He causes all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and slave, to receive a mark on their right hand or on their foreheads, and that no one may buy or sell except one who has the mark or the name of the beast, or the number of his name. Here is wisdom: Let him that hath understanding count the number of the beast: for it is the number of a man; and his number is Six hundred threescore and six.” Revelation 13:16-18

Why 666?

In mathematics, the number 6 is known as the first perfect number (the three divisors, 1, 2, and 3, add to 6).

Order 6 Magic Square
6	32	3	34	35	1
7	11	27	28	8	30
24	14	16	15	23	19
13	20	22	21	17	18
25	29	10	9	26	12
36	5	33	4	2	31

In an order 6 magic square, each column, row, and major diagonal add up to 111. All six columns add up to 666. As do all six rows. As do all numbers between 1 and 36. The number of the beast is an esoteric number of immense power. It comprises the set of complete mathematics.

The Properties of Number 666

1³ + 2³ + 3³ + 4³ + 5³ + 6³ + 5³ + 4³ + 3³ + 2³ + 1³ = 666

1 + 2 + 3 + 4 + 5 + 6 + 5 + 4 + 3 + 2 + 1 = 36

“More specific to the artwork above is this fact behind every barcode that is barely known… It is a universal standard for ALL retail barcodes to have the three conduit stripes in the code be the number “6.” The first two thin stripes (“6”) mark the entrance of the code across the laser scanner, signifying a new code coming. The second stripe, in the middle of the code (also the number “6”) tells the reader that the first set of numbers complete the identity of the manufacturer of the product. The code proceeds through the scanner with the second set of numbers, identifying the “product” itself bearing the code. The closing set of stripes is also the number “6,” indicating to the scanner that the scan is now complete. The scan is finished, and the identity of the product is accurately displayed and registered. In the US, such codes are 10 digits long; in Europe, they are 12 digits long. In ALL cases, the three 6s are standard communicators to the scanner. So, in conclusion, the prophecy of Revelation 13:16-18, suggesting a day coming where one would not be allowed to work or shop without this number (666) embedded in the flesh — suggesting total cashlessness — by comparison with today’s facts in which you can not buy or sell a product in retail today without a barcode that bears that very same number … how close are we now to that fateful day of body implantation of the same? It makes one wonder.” – Wallace Wood, DiginomicsCentral

What Will the Mark Look Like?

The mark itself will be a computational image made in the flesh which references the bitcoin network. By using this network of information, the beast will utilize artificial intelligence in an authoritarian manner to appear omnipotent and omnipresent. With the awesome power of artificial intelligence, the beast will know those who worship it better than anyone else, including themselves and their closest friends and family, and will personalize their approach toward every person who has the mark. The beast will know even the most intimate details about those who receive the mark.

“Then the beast was permitted to wage war against the saints and to conquer them, and it was given authority over every tribe and people and tongue and nation.” Revelation 13:7

The beast will utilize technology to deceive the inhabitants of the Earth that it represents God.

The beast will arrive on the scene with a background in the technology industries. It will be well received by the media industrial complex and the masses, seduced by its charm, will follow hypnotically. There will be many who convince themselves that in accepting the mark, they are doing God’s work.

“Enter by the narrow gate; for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and there are many who go in by it. Because narrow is the gate and difficult is the way which leads to life, and there are few who find it.” Matthew 7:13,14

Who Will Receive the Mark?

All people of the world will decide to either accept or reject the mark of the beast. Social and financial standing will be of no consideration.

The mark cannot be forced upon one against their will – it must willfully be accepted or rejected. Whether one chooses to accept or reject the mark, that decision must be honoured. Every man shall be defined by their choice.

For those who willingly accept the mark of the beast, there will be great titles and earthly things. It will be considered an act of good faith to accept the mark and worship the beast. However, rejection of the mark will be considered unlawful – and there will be consequences for doing so. Those who reject the mark will be unable to buy or sell and unable to gain employment. The minority who reject the mark will be thought of as mad by the majority who accept it.

How Will the Mark Be Imposed?

The beast will use fear as a catalyst to encourage acceptance of the mark. There will be bounties placed on the heads of those who reject the mark, and they will be hunted by those who have received the mark.

“Now brother will deliver up brother to death, and a father his child; and children will rise up against parents and cause them to be put to death. And you will be hated by all for My name’s sake. But he who endures to the end will be saved.” Matthew 10:21,22

Those who reject the mark will be socially ostracized and hated. For many, physical death will be a consequence of rejecting the mark of the beast.

“Then I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded for their witness to Jesus and for the word of God, who had not worshipped the beast or his image, and had not received his mark on their foreheads or on their hands. And they lived and reigned with Christ for a thousand years.” Revelation 20:4

What Will the Implications of the Mark Be?

The mark will exert complete control over man because it will be capable of transmitting and receiving light. Humans are made of flesh and blood. Blood is a condensation of light. Humans are beings of light. It will be implanted in the forehead where it will operate from the pineal gland to overcome the imagination of the individual.

Those who receive the mark will be unable to end their experience.

“And in those days shall men seek death, and shall not find it; and shall desire to die, and death shall flee from them.” Revelation 9:6

Choosing to accept the mark holds eternal consequences. Those who accept the mark of the beast willfully envelop themselves in a cybernetic tyranny. In accepting the mark, those who worship the beast will be replacing the Godhead with digital calculation. It is a path which leads to spiritual damnation.

“If anyone worships the beast and his image, and receives his mark on his forehead or on his hand, he himself shall also drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is poured out full strength into the cup of His indignation. He shall be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy angels and in the presence of the Lamb. And the smoke of their torment ascends forever and ever; and they have no rest day or night, who worship the beast and his image, and whoever receives the mark of his name.” Revelation 14:9-11

Woe be to those who fail to heed this admonition.

Bitcoin

Blockspace Is the Commodity of Bitcoin

Post author By Travis
Post date November 10, 2018

When an individual makes a transaction on the bitcoin network, no actual currency is moved. That is – no file has moved, no commodity or asset has moved, no private or public key has moved. Rather, the only thing which changes is the percentage of the blockchain ledger which User A & B claim control over.

When a transaction occurs in the realm of bitcoin, the image of the blockchain is altered. Nothing ever changes but the composition of this blockchain record. The blockchain is a historical record of its ownership. It is a downloadable file (.dat) which began at zero and is now ~ 189 gigabytes (GB) in size.

There is no separation to be made between the blockchain and bitcoin. They are one in the same. Without the blockchain, you have no bitcoin ecosystem. Without an accompanying cryptocurrency, you have no measuring tool to determine the ownership of the blockchain. Money is now an image, rather than something which can be separated from the system itself. This image of money is being constructed by machines acting as miners across the globe. The miners are the painters of the blockchain image.

On the bitcoin network, money is an image continuously being generated (coinbase), re-attributed, and verified by way of cryptographic authorization – the application of numerical law.

The commodity of bitcoin is block space – that is, space within the ledger where data can be timestampped and verified into existence through the decentralized network of computers who are contributing their labour (hashing proof-of-work) in order to propagate the next iteration of blockchain .dat file.

Each hash performed by a bitcoin miner produces a random number between 0 and the maximum value of a 256-bit number. The SHA-256 hash of a block's header must be lower than or equal to the current target to be accepted by the network. If not, miners increment the nonce (completely changing the hash) and try again. This is the labour product that all miners contribute to the ledger of bitcoin.

The process of verifying information into the blockchain is the work performed. Each unit of bitcoin gains its value from the amount of work (hashpower) that went into solving the latest block.

Blockspace is the commodity!

[FREE COURSE] BTC 101 – Introduction To Bitcoin

Cybereconomy

Is Total Cashlessness Inevitable?

Post author By Wallace Wood
Post date October 20, 2018

Debates abound as global trends move forward

“All that is necessary is to wait out a short term in the cycle of human history and a cashless society will inevitably befall us because this is a development that is automatic and inevitable.”

– Robert Hendrickson, (book) THE CASHLESS SOCIETY (1972)

The inevitability of a “world without money” has been an ongoing debate since the subject first entered the social scene in the early ‘70s. I know. I’ve been tracking the topic since that time. It’s been one of the most amazing journeys through the evolution of our times as one could imagine. Having spent my entire adult life in both retail and reporting, I have seen the retail industry go from old mechanical cash registers to card swiping to smart phone scanning … and, from there, we enter the full ubiquitous age of what I like to call The Diginomic Era! Everything goes fully digital … especially our money.

According to The Mobile Economy 2018 Report produced by GSMA Intelligence in Europe, “2017 was a milestone year for the mobile industry: the number of people connected to mobile services surpassed 5 billion globally, with 3.7 billion in developing markets. As such, two out of three people in the world had a mobile subscription at the end of 2017. Looking out to 2025, the mobile industry will reach new major milestones across key indicators – unique subscribers, internet users and 4G/5G connections.”

In the meantime, by 2025, the report also predicts “the more significant growth opportunity will lie in mobile internet … reaching a milestone of 5 billion mobile internet users.”

As the world goes increasingly and irreversibly mobile, the obvious white elephant in the room is the fate of fiat currency. Will the world see the eventual (if not inevitable) demise and disappearance of hard, tangible currency? Will the “money” in your pocket finally go away and be replaced with computer digits that will be called “legal tender”?

Katina Stefanova, writing for FORBES in its April 9, 2018 edition, noted: “Today, an innovative generation that cares very little about what the established titans of our industry think constitutes ‘currency’ have completely redefined how currency is created, exchanged and stored.”

In her article, “Digital Currency Economy: What is the Future of Your Bitcoins?” she goes further to say, “It seems as though the only thing one needs for a currency to exist is buyers and sellers who want to transfer value between each other. The subculture gains momentum taking the establishment by surprise; who thought that Bitcoin would be worth over $10,000?”

As you read across the Internet on the subject The Future of Money, you come across a plethora of philosophical discussions and theorems, but they all seem to have this common thread, as relayed in an article on Quora (Oct. 18, 2010): “Money is likely to become much more decentralized and even more ‘virtual’ … money is likely to become increasingly invisible. Rather than handing someone cash, you’ll give them your cell phone number and they’ll request payment by typing that number into an online form on their cell phone. You’ll get an SMS message from the payment processor and reply to confirm. Alternatively, you might give them your email address and respond via email. Another possibility is that you’ll ‘bump’ your phones together, and that will initiate the exchange in the cloud.”

Going cashless is inevitable if for no other reason than the fact that advancing technology will see to it. The new adult generations of the Millennials and beyond already have it in their cultural DNA.

Cybereconomy

The Growing e-Dollar Culture

Post author By Wallace Wood
Post date September 17, 2018

Any way you slice it, the world at-large is no longer analog, but increasingly digital. We are now at parity point between science fiction and evolving pervasive technology. Welcome to The Diginomic Era!

“Only one in ten US dollars in circulation today is a physical note — the kind you can hold in your hand or put in your wallet. The other nine are virtual.” – McKinsey & Co., “The Global Grid”

Joel Kurtzman, former Harvard Business Review executive editor, calls it “megabyte money” in his 1993 book, The Death of Money. Don Tapscott referred to it as “The Digital Economy” in his 1996 book by the same name … and then, in 2006, he went further to call it Wikinomics. In 1997, professor and author T. G. Lewis called it “The Friction-Free Economy”.

In 1998, yours truly took it one step further in coining the word “Diginomics” to denote the trend in the future for digital economics. If left uninterrupted by unexpected, unforeseen or unplanned forces, the evolution toward cashlessness is inevitable. Robert Hendrickson, in his 1972 book entitled “The Cashless Society”, agreed with this assessment when he noted: “All that is necessary is to wait out a short term in the cycle of human history and a cashless society will inevitably befall us because this is a development that is automatic and inevitable.”

Technological progress advances with very few hindrances to block its destiny, whether it be for good or for evil. In this particular instance involving the end of tangible currency in exchange for its intangible counterpart, the die is cast and the ultimate future is now at-hand.

In a 171-page white paper report in 2002 entitled “The Future of Money”, the UN’s Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) made a bold statement on the future of money by saying: “To put it in succinct and current terms, money’s destiny is to become digital.”

“When looking to the future, the question (is on) the rate at which the last vestiges of physical money will disappear and, in the minds of some, if it is really destined to vanish.”

Visa’s Chief Executive Al Kelly, in speaking at his company’s Investor Day meeting in June 2017, was quoted in the July 7 edition of Marketwatch as saying: “We’re focused on putting cash out of business.”

“As money becomes completely digitized, infinitely transferable, and friction-free, it will again revolutionize how we think about our economy.” – Daniel Roth, WIRED, February 22, 2010, “The Future of Money: It’s Flexible, Frictionless and (Almost) Free”

“Killing currency wouldn’t be a trauma; it’d be euthanasia. We have the technology to move to a more efficient, convenient, freely flowing medium of exchange. E-money is no longer just a matter of geeks playing games.” – David Wolman, contributing editor, WIRED,
May 22, 2009, “Time to Cash Out: Why Paper Money Hurts the Economy”

Headlines appearing in 2016 give us a view as to what is coming, courtesy of The American Thinker, in an article entitled “Here Comes the ‘Cashless Society”:

Bring On the Cashless Future – Bloomberg
China buyers go virtually cashless  – The Star
Norway’s Biggest Bank Calls For Country To Stop Using Cash – Int’l Business Times
Cashless future underway as Canadian consumers have more credit, debit and app options than ever – CBC
In Sweden, a Cash-Free Future Nears – NY Times
Germany proposes new cash ban and capital controls as Europe rushes towards NIRP* – Examiner

Banking

e-Banking Squeezing Out Personal Banking

Post author By Wallace Wood
Post date July 5, 2018

Elements of the “Diginomic Era” are ripping into the traditional world of banking, retail shopping, currency circulation and more. In 2018, there appears to be more street-level bank branches closing than opening due to the growth in mobile banking.

“Online banking has changed the face of transactional business and affects commerce across many trades and industries,” reports the Houston Chronicle.” Consumers now have the ability to perform transactions online that were traditionally reserved for tellers inside a bank branch. Teller transactions have declined because internet users have the convenience of transferring funds, making deposits and requesting withdrawals from their personal computers. According to Bank Systems and Technology, ‘Internet banking has been the most influential in displacing branch transactions.'”

According to The Wall Street Journal (Feb. 25, 2018), “Banks are closing branches at the fastest pace in decades, as they leave less profitable regions and fewer customers use tellers for routine transactions. The number of branches in the U.S. shrank by more than 1,700 in the 12 months ended in June 2017, the biggest decline on record, according to a Wall Street Journal analysis of federal data.”

On June 15, the BBC reported that “about 60 bank branches are closing every month” in what is being called an “alarming” rate. It’s estimated that in England alone, nearly 3,000 bank branches will have closed between 2015 and the end of 2018. “Banks said their branches were losing customers as more people banked online.”

“These days, several banking apps exist that help users understand and analyze their spending habits on an annual, monthly and even daily basis,” reports Techopedia.com, “The IT Education Site” that covers technology trends, tech jargon and “anything else IT pros care about.”

“Each year, more and more banking consumers are turning to mobile banking applications to stay up to date with their banking needs. This trend has manifested itself in increased demand for mobile banking platforms and even in the loss of customers by banks that have yet to offer mobile banking services. Experts say that this is a trend that we should get used to. In fact, the growing popularity of mobile banking is expected to change the way banks service customers. It even has the potential to reshape the landscape of the personal banking industry.”

To further emphasize the point of how mobile banking has changed in recent years due to mobile technology, there are approximately 2 billion smartphone users in the world today. Over a third of the world’s population owns a smartphone. In fact, in many developing countries, the computing revolution bypassed PCs altogether, with people in rural communities connecting to the Internet for the first time through a smartphone.

According to FORBES, “the smartphone unique subscriber base will pass the three billion mark for the first time ever in 2018, representing 54% of the total population,” resulting in 52 percent of the banking public preferring the use of their smartphones to check their balances as versus 22 percent preferring their PCs.

“The future of the banking industry is growing increasingly digital,” notes Business Insider. “The explosion of smartphones in the last decade has truly caused mobile banking to go mainstream. Today, mobile banking apps are not an extra benefit in consumers’ minds. They are a necessary part of the bank-customer relationship, and their absence could convince customers to switch to another financial institution.”

T. Hall, a banking consultant in Alpharetta, GA, perhaps said it best. As he instructs today’s bankers to prepare for the new future in banking, when he was quoted in The Wall Street Journal’s November 30, 2011 issue as saying, “Many bankers don’t quite get the fact there is a new normal, a new world order that is coming to banking.”

So, as the world becomes more fluidly mobile, the banking industry is being forced to change the face of its services to meet the demands of this growing digital generation.

Only those institutions and services that “awake” to the new era of diginomics will survive.

Bitcoin

Bitcoin Is A Hedge Against Legacy Finance

Post author By Travis
Post date January 17, 2018

Investing in bitcoin is the act of staking your claim in a newly emerging digital economy. This type of economic model is in itself a hedge against economic uncertainty because it is a different form of law which governs its use.

Characterizing this shift in the form of law governing money, is what Friedrich Hayek would describe as the ‘denationalization‘ of money. More specifically, Hayek stated that ‘the normal provision of money would be entirely a function of private enterprise, the chief danger to its smooth working would still be interference by the state’ in his Analysis of the Theory and Practice of Concurrent Currencies. With bitcoin, this denationalization of provision over money has never been more apparent.

“The chief danger, however, would threaten from renewed attempts by governments to control the international movements of currency and capital. It is a power which at present is the most serious threat not only to a working international economy but also to personal freedom; and it will remain a threat so long as governments have the physical power to enforce such controls.”

– Friedrich Hayek, Analysis of the Theory and Practice of Concurrent Currencies

Those ‘physical powers to enforce’ have now been lifted. Instead, we have in their place, enforcement powers which are defined by the laws of digital cyberspace. Geographical boundaries no longer exist, and therefore analog-money is a non-player, as are analog-actors who would attempt to control this ‘movement of currency and capital’.

As a store of wealth, bitcoin may be volatile, but in an age where we involving ourselves in the denationalization of money, it is not only a store of wealth, but a necessary consideration. Bitcoin as a hedge against legacy finance can exist simultaneously even if the long term implications of it are not yet clear.

Even if bitcoin were to fizzle out spectacularly, the idea that it encompasses a radically new form of law which governs its use, is enough to consider a stake in it.