In the previous section, we covered the emerging Ownership Economy and why it is central to your work to end poverty.

Next, let’s cover some of those tech definitions with relevant examples.

Yes - we want to make this story as friendly as we can to non-tech people.

I know Blockchain is on your list, so let’s discuss record keeping which is what blockchain is mostly about.

OK. In the old days, when we wanted to create a record of events, we wrote those events down, or had them physically witnessed, or notarized.

A ledger in bookkeeping is one example of records, showing money transactions for a day or a week or a month or a year.

Yes. These transactions happen one after another and are recorded on paper, or digitally, on a spreadsheet like Excel.

The weakness of these older systems, including Excel, is that the records are mutable. Which means they can be changed, forged, deleted, or otherwise destroyed, and a new record put in their place.

The other difficulty is that the actual physical or digital records are often under centralized control, and not readily available, or visible to the stakeholders that the records most affect.

Can you define centralized?

This is any business or organization under top-down control, with a HQ, or run through a hierarchy.

That sounds like every organization. Why did this become a problem?

Well, while centralization was a major advance in its time, it also make it easier to install the infamous “Degenerative Cycle” into human affairs. As a reminder, the degenerative cycle is how society converts people into consumables and includes 5 steps: alienation, rationalization, exploitation, automation, and socialization.

Very important to the success of the Degenerative Cycle is control of records. This is necessary to more effectively pull off rationalization, automation, and socialization. These 3 steps allow the System’s continued exploitation of people and the world around us.

Control of record keeping means being able to - change, forge, delete, destroy, or simply not create records in the first place - to better suit the system’s agenda.

Can you give examples?

Sure.
Take for example – if you lived in a destabilized country when a new government is installed, records of properties’ previous ownership might inadvertently go missing - if that suits the new administration.

Here’s another example. In recent history, and still today, we have companies who dislike records because they, the companies, are exploiting for profit:

• the markets,

• their workers,

• and the planet.
  

I see you are not naming names because this is a “System of Exploitation” that in the long run hurts everyone.

Yes. Another problem with centralized records is that many are closed to public scrutiny – meaning they are not transparent and thus open to letting people in power exploit people and the planet in “private” and without fear of exposure.

Right – those examples show good reasons to “not trust the fox to guard the hen house”.

Yes – and as more and more people began to distrust centralized authority, the concept of decentralized blockchain records was introduced, first as an idea, but over the years, fully developed as blockchain technology.

Ok. Let’s get into some more definitions

Let’s start with Blockchain:

Ok. Blockchain is a series of connected digital boxes or vaults each of which contains data or code or information, similar to cells in an Excel spreadsheet.

It is similar to a digital ledger, where each box or block is tied to the box before and after it by timestamps and other code connectors.

This makes it virtually impossible to revise the order of records after the fact – without destroying the integrity of the entire blockchain.

And what is Distributed?

First, many copies of each block are created simultaneously, and these blocks of data are encrypted, and then sent to, and saved on many geographically separated computers or servers. Meaning they are distributed over many independent locations that are not usually under one company’s control.

And what about Searchable?

If someone with permission wants to search the records, they enter a descriptor in a search bar, just like you would do in a search engine. The system finds the associated blocks of data. It will then, using the internet connection, reconnect or pull them back together and finally decrypt them and present them for your use.

How does this work?

The cutting up and reconnecting of data requires blockchain management software. It allows the records to be decentralized, searchable, and transparent.

How about Failsafe?

This means the system resists failure. For example, even if 90% of the included servers were hacked or taken offline, copies of the original blocks and their contained records remain accessible.

So far, we’ve generally introduced the terms blockchain, immutable, transparent, distributed, hacking-resistant, and failsafe.

Yes - that’s industry lingo – and maybe the listeners get the general idea, even if they’re not 100% clear why it’s a big deal

Maybe give some examples of real-world applications:

Good idea – as I’ve mentioned Level UP Tech spent many years developing our own blockchain from first principles. First principles mean we created it from scratch - and not built on top of corporate-controlled systems. This blockchain is the backbone of our “Green Economic Drivetrain”.

The Green Economic Drivetrain has many special and unique features that make it practical and capable of creating and managing the billions of records that are essential to a large-scale interconnected and transparent Ownership Economy.

Explain “records” in this context.

Ok. If I sell you my car, this involves a series of events or “transactions”. It’s more steps than we mostly consider. Here is a short list of what might be included; advertise – or simply tell you about the car, which should be truthful and transparent; arrange to view and test-drive, carry out test-drive, carry out due diligence; agree on a transfer process and price; follow through and exchange maintenance records, title, and bill of sale for funds; pay the sales tax and fees; register the new title with the county or state.

The record of the sale of the car includes a record of all or many of these transactions. This is what actually happened, and this record protects both parties.

We are not saying that there’s a need for a lawyer or third party. People naturally arrive at the same series of steps that are required to reach a mutually desired outcome.

But we are saying that the records can include more than “you paid me $4,900 on September 2nd, 2023”, and maybe, but not necessarily, all of the above.

This sounds complex

Yes, it does.

But it is no problem for people with smartphones connected to an app that links to a smart digital drivetrain.

Will people learn to manage their records in a system like this?

Consider this. We all buy groceries occasionally. Do we leave them at the check-out stand and walk away?

No of course not.

Right. We carry them home and pack them away for our use later.

This process is similar, it just takes getting used to how Apps work. And it creates the same outcome. We are safely putting away our assets for later use.

Won’t it be automated?

Yes – almost fully automated.

The records are created at each step of the process. Some we participate actively in, like the purchase of an asset, or you can instruct an “Intelligent App” to find and buy you an asset.

Some records are 100% handled by the platform like payroll processing is today - where the funds, with all deductions, and associated records, just show up in your account while you sleep.

So we have covered some of the technology that’s included in Level UP Tech’s Green Economic Drivetrain, let’s cover some of the ways that it can be put to use in the next section.

Yes, we will see how it drives the Ownership Economy and our Level UP Apps – with some specific examples.