What the History of Headphones Says About the Internet's Future

I'm going to talk about the future of the internet and blockchain technology, but first, let's talk about noise-cancelling headphones.

What will the internet look like in 2030? And specifically, will blockchain technology have a material impact on the way the internet of 2030 enables people to conduct business and live their lives? Whether or not we can answer these questions depends on whether blockchain has arrived at a stage of continuous improvement or whether we're still waiting for new paradigm shifts.

Internet routers receive a packet of data and pass it to the next router.

Decentralized technology, and especially public blockchains like Ethereum, hold the promise of adding value to the internet by introducing state to this stateless system - what I call the stateful internet.

The second most important thing to remember when considering what decentralized state machines could do to change our experience of the internet is the need to balance transparency and compartmentalization of information.

Neither the today's internet nor blockchains are very good at data compartmentalization.

At least with the internet you must catch packets in flight and figure out which ones need to be reassembled with others to reconstitute a coherent message.

If we expect the internet to serve as the back end to any and all applications - from enterprise recordkeeping to Twitch gaming - the level at which it needs to scale may border on defying the laws of physics.

If the stateful internet isn't going to be a back end for all application data, what should we use it for? One practical use is to manage cryptographic proofs that allow you to know that records in your recordkeeping system are verifiably identical to the matching records in my system and that multi-party workflows maintain integrity.

If we are there, if Ethereum 2.0 works and shows a path of continuous improvement, then we can expect the next ten years to deliver a stateful internet that, at the very least, will be a useful way to keep business data in sync.