NFTs: Key infrastructure for digital inclusion

When people dialed up using 56,000 modems to connect to AOL, the Internet was a much different, more open place where everyone in the world could share information, communicate and do business. Advertising models and attention economies had not yet been built, and people’s journeys through the internet were limited by what they were able to search for, discover and interact with. Things were good and easier too! People were happy.

How Web2 hindered digital inclusion

Then social media was born and the internet shifted to attention-based business models aimed at harnessing attention, moving people through models that depended on engagement. We entered the era of “Web2” with excitement and joy. Content monetization opened up the potential for revenue streams that could be huge depending on the creator’s ability to leverage these new tools and the scale they brought to audiences.

However, it wasn’t long before the flaws underlying this new model began to drive society apart, silencing conversations and creating communities that felt real but were actually based on your invisible, algorithmic internet herpas. These guides gently steered audiences to places where their attention could be monitored, exploited and monetized. This model reaped huge financial returns and made shareholder value the main driver of these systems’ design.

Under this regime, Internet adventurers became “users” whose valuable data could be mined, shared and monetized without them even realizing what was happening. Privacy was placed on the sacrificial altar without these “users” choosing to do so with informed consent and knowledge of the consequences.

The ads became better, more targeted and relevant; some people liked it, and platforms like Facebook really liked it. Seemingly overnight, our devices began listening to our conversations and feeding us content based on what would create the most shareholder value. It worked! Business was good, and people were spending money (and attention) on platforms that enticed them to create content and provide extremely valuable data for free.

NFTs and the path to user empowerment

Today it is clear that this model has led us astray. Outrage and narcissism have become the teeth of this new economy, and society suffers the consequences daily. Many have realized what they have been dragged into, but have found no exit ramps or escapes from this broken model.

The next generation of the internet is being built around a set of values ​​to correct these mistakes. Users become “members,” and content creators are quickly abandoning broken Web2 platforms in favor of solutions that cut out the middleman and connect people directly to the information they want to see—rather than the information corporate giants want them to see. NFTs, although relatively new on the scene, enable this connection in previously unimaginable ways.

NFTs are basically membership cards that can follow you around the internet and unlock specific information. They have gained notoriety through their application to art, but there is so much more to this technology than pictures of monkeys.

Take the recent controversy surrounding de-platforming and the questions about whether the big tech platforms like Twitter and Facebook have a responsibility to deliver information to their users that is consistent with an ever-changing set of values, morals, standards, etc. As NFT adoption continues to take root, we will begin to see a digital world where people who choose to view specific content can access it and those who want to avoid certain things can do so. This model shifts responsibility from centralized organizations that stand to benefit financially from our outrage to individuals empowered to make their own choices.

A more inclusive digital world

In this world, certain groups are not excluded from information based on what algorithms think they want to see or should see. Anyone can access whatever content they choose, without outside influence from shareholder-run entities that can take advantage of the declining mental health of their user base.

Inclusion on the internet is not achieved by forcing everyone to see everything. There is simply too much information. True digital inclusion will be achieved by empowering society to make informed decisions for itself – allowing people to self-select into groups based on informed consent. This is a drastic shift from the current model, and it means that centralized entities will lose control of their huge user bases as people move from users to members. Instead of relying on curated content delivered by groups with ulterior motives, people can actively seek the information they are interested in finding.

This does not mean that people will automatically find “correct” or even “good” information, but it does mean that they will have control over how they construct meaning from reality – a stark contrast to the current state of affairs.

Digital inclusion is not achieved by forcing everyone through the same funnel of beliefs picked based on what will offend them or make them feel a false sense of “belonging”. Real inclusion happens when everyone is free to make their own choices to find their version of reality.

We feel this disconnect every day in the contrast between what we see online and what we experience in real life. The truth is that most people want the same things – peace, security and community. But if you interacted with the community solely via the internet, you might come to a different conclusion. This difference is algorithmically created, and the shift from old internet models to new ones will help to close that gap. NFTs will be remembered years from now as the most important piece of infrastructure on this journey because of how they will return control and power to the people.

Julien Genestoux is the founder and CEO of Unlock protocol