What my digital twin does...
Abstract
Perhaps it is a trend; perhaps it is the fault of governments, the tech industry, finance and insurance – large structures in our modern society which has evolved into entities not capable of being influenced by ordinary people - consumers; perhaps it is the fault of consumers. Searching for the true complicit may prove futile!
Their services/products are in such demand and of such importance that consumers have a hard time finding alternatives.
Legislation, economies of scale, and lobbyism (among others) fuel this trend.
Public as well as private projects on an alarming scale either folds or finishes orders of magnitude above budget and with diminishing returns. Legacy, legislation, and lobby bolts the customer to suppliers with inferior services.
"We the people" are left standing by able to observe but paralyzed and robbed of our ways out!
Distrust has absolved trust; distrust in products, services, businesses, government, neighbors, business partners, colleagues – and upwards of 60% get divorced!
We are shutting down our communication channels or filling them with rubbish and useless (dis)information.
Complicity by design
As if it was not bad enough consumers/voters are spun into 'the solution' as complicit being offered scrapes and lumps of the 'fat'. No one will question a system which in the end provides for your next meal!
A way out
will require "we the people" to make some tough choices, deselect products, avoid services, vote with our shopping baskets and feet.
Rubbing salt in the wound no doubt – but we will have to introduce and accept neo pietism as well!
We will need help and support from IT - and that is what these "Letters to the Public" are all about!
Escaping the rodent treadmill
There is no doubt in my mind that it will for certain be a challenging endeavor and the risks of failing and tasks to be completed are looking to be unsurmountable – at best!
Never the less there are a number of systemic design flaws that modern society needs to remedy in order to be able to move forward – I have listed them in a prioritized order:
- identity - who are you?
- communication - what do you say?
- consumption - what do you need?
- transportation - where are you going?
- transactions - how will you pay for it?
Identity
It all starts with establishing your identity. The recent – and ongoing – privacy cleansing particularly in the EU with offsprings in USA and parts of South East Asia is a try to solve the wrong problem!
Communication
Knowing who you are makes it a lot easier to tune into what you say - or squelch it if your message is of no interest to me.
Why should I accept to receive (and spend my precious time closing and fending off) phone calls from companies eager to sell products/services?
Why does my communication channels depend on large US tech giants?
Consumption
The current way of consuming is based on economies of scale entirely. By producing 1,000-s of some product suppliers are able to compete on price in the market.
This drives production into the regions of the world with the lowest rates of labour cost which coincidentally happens to be regions with less developed legislation pertaining to environment etc
Transportation
With effective channels of communication a large part of people transportation can be avoided.
With effective value chains of goods another very large part of goods transportation can be avoided.
Transaction
The finance sector has exhibited all the faults and cons of capitalism.
Why should home-owners pay a 3-500% surcharge on their interests only to feed the gluttony, greed, sloth, and pride of banks?
Why do we have to spend billions on monitoring, auditing, settling income and expenditure by citizens and in particular businesses all too often resulting in unjust results like white-washing, transfer-pricing, and other tax evasion schemes?