Technologies, Wealth, Poverty and Climate Change: Part 1
Like the vast regions of the oceans and continents, so too, exist vast space in the virtual and block world, with acreage upon acreages, each with a unique monetary price tag. Every URL, colloquially termed a web address, is a gateway to this virtual space and virtual commerce, like that used every day such as Google (https://www.google.com) .
As we mine for mineral resources, so to do we "mine" for data. Just as we process these resources into a final product with a value, we also process this mined data into information used in metrics, tools for decision making and every day transactions in business and entertainment. With the advent of the information era and technology, virtual space have unfolded a multi-billion dollar industry in a matter of decades. According to a July 2017 article by Tech Crunch, today’s top 5 technology companies have a combined net worth of 3 Trillion dollars.
Major tech companies such as Apple, Samsung and Microsoft, are already immersed into this virtual world and have transformed (dictated) the way we transact and interact as human being in our everyday life, albeit, politics, defense, education, research and many more fields. However, these transactions don't come virtually free, they come at a BIG COST.
Is this meant to be Virtual Reality (VR)? We have since come to realize that VR is not a void and abstract space; the hardware that houses this virtual world demands some of the world's rarest minerals and elements and is powered by copious amounts of energy (fossil fuel based). Companies are now moving major processing loads from CPU onto GPUs and programmable chips called FPGAs (field-programmable-gate-array). In a nut shell, if the lights went out, this virtual world would be at a standstill (of course, one would say backup battery would be available).
What we see as the emergence of new information technology in this decade is mainly profit driven, (creating more billionaires than ever before!), and has a real and measurable impact. One such impact lies in the methods used in creating these tools that uses non-renewable energy sources to manufacturing process. One example, the industrialization of new technology releases many types of harmful gases to the environment to global warming which trickling effects to the environment and society as a whole.
Unlike other charitable organization, Rock against Poverty (RAP) will be unique as a charity platform for fundraising in support of poverty alleviation and climate mitigation. Through the use of such techs as green virtual reality (green VR) and artificial intelligence (AI), RAP aims to maintain and support the agenda of the world’s top technology companies (directly and/or indirectly) in it use of collective climate mitigation goals to reduce the triggers of climate change that affects poverty.
A good example of technology that RAP will be utilizing in its data mining is Holochain (second generation to Blockchain), both of which are structures that are used to ensure tamper-proof data integrity. The difference is that Holochain applications operates exponentially faster, is cheaper in its mining cost and notably less energy intensive, whereas, Blockchain is mining intensive and consumes an exorbitant amount of energy, as it runs on algorithms that massively consumes more energy than a small Caribbean island uses in a year.
RAP uses these combined techs, green VR, AI and Holochain, in its data mining and management to aid in its Poverty Alleviation Strategies, Climate and Disaster Mitigation Planning, all with the end goal of a safer world for ourselves and the future generations.
Part 2 will deep dive into the tech powering RAP listing of the world’s top 10 technology companies.
Reference:
https://techcrunch.com/2017/07/19/techs-5-biggest-players-now-worth-3-trillion