From IT to DT Era — Creates A True Global Village

Original Press: https://mp.weixin.qq.com/s/6R5mRhcVcxOd-h8JtprGeg

After more than 30 years of development and growth, computers and the internet have become necessities in the modern economy. The importance of the internet is the same as the importance of electricity — without either, our society cannot function normally.

However, the disadvantages brought about by the development of the Internet have become increasingly apparent. Just to name a few: erosion of privacy, exploitation of individual values, monopoly of few tech giants, proliferation of trifling information, excessive entertainment… The list could go on. All of these issues are hindering the Internet to be the tool we intended, to help our society evolve into a higher dimension of existence.

Have you been troubled by online privacy issues?

Global tech giant Facebook is the fifth most valuable company in the United States, with its market value estimated at 5.847 trillion dollars, and 48 thousand employees.

Facebook is richer than many countries. Its annual revenue for 2019 was 70.697 billion dollars. In comparison, the GDP of Venezuela in 2019 was 70.11 billion dollars, ranking at 75th in the world yet less than Facebook’s revenue.

In 2018, Facebook’s data breach scandal with Cambridge Analytica attracted massive public attention, and finally, some light was shed on the undercurrent of private data abuse. Most people realized for the first time, that the “privacy agreement” they agree to when they sign up for online services is not there to protect them but to benefit the companies.

We all get spam calls; whether it be “awesome real estate opportunity”, “insurance with terms you can’t refuse”, or straight up scams. We almost never get to know which company leaked our information, because we give out our information to so many companies.

Under an oversight vacuum, there is a grey market where personal, private data are bought and sold repeatedly. In worse situations, those data might be social security numbers, bank account information, being sold to criminals for the purpose of committing fraud, ruining people’s lives. Private data has become a goldmine for fraudsters and cyber terrorists.

Overwhelming Trifles

Search engines such as Google and Baidu were originally created to enable people to easily retrieve the information they need. Social platforms such as Facebook and WeChat were originally created to facilitate people to connect with each other efficiently, safely and conveniently.

However, the current reality is that search engines are filled with 90% of advertisements and spam; And certain social platforms are dominated by pyramid schemes and scams, which harm user experience severely.

The platforms are not looking to change the status quo because they are making a profit. Some alternatives have emerged. Some niche platforms that focus on user-generated contents have gained popularity and grown bigger. But once they become big companies, they fall back into the same model and exploit their users to sell ads. The pattern repeats itself.

Such is the nature of centralized internet companies. The solution is to transform the underlying model.

The value of data — raw material for next-gen production

The most advanced field of technologies — artificial intelligence, biotechnology, cloud computing, intelligent manufacturing, etc — all have data as their fundamental building block. Of all data types, the most valuable is data about people, which is user data.

People are beginning to comprehend the importance of data. Data are markers of all economic behaviours. Currently, user data are still firmly in the grasp of internet companies. But we need not lose our hopes, because progress does not happen overnight, and the transition of eras has already quietly begun.

From the Era of IT to the Era of DT

DT stands for Data Technology. The transformation from Internet technology to data technology is an inevitable trend. Its essence is blockchain technology being the iteration of Internet technology, decentralized technology being the progress of centralized technology, and business models that are based on cooperation and sharing economy being the replacement of centralized monopoly.

The internet did not change the prevalence of monopoly. Monopoly in the tech field has accelerated the concentration of wealth, solidified class disparity, exploited personal values, and deepened social conflicts. This problem is evident from the fact that Facebook is worth more than half of the countries in the world, and it’s contributing to many countries’ turmoil.

Jack Ma (Ma Yun) said in a speech: “We are ushering in a new era of technology, the era of data technology. Data technology has the opposite effect of information technology. The concept of information technology is that I have something you don’t have. On the other hand, data technology means that even though you have something I don’t have, I don’t have to have it.

And that’s because the essence of data technology is sharing, responsibility, and a passion for the future. Therefore, the next 30 years will be the era of data technology. In the era of data technology, everyone is equal, because everyone is standing on the same starting line.”

The rise of individual value

In the IT era, information is concentrated and tech giants focus on the volume of traffic. This exploits the public and steals values from individuals. In the DT era, value distribution is fairer, value transfer is more efficient, individual values are respected. Therefore, laying the soil well suited for freelancing careers.

Imagine that data is transparent and completely in your control. Your social behaviours, personal interests, hobbies, skills, experiences, fashion senses, and lifestyles all can generate value and be made into products and bring you material rewards. People could focus more on developing their hobbies and interests, doing “work” that brings them happiness, empowering each other.

The traditional corporate structure is weakening, while distributed workforce is trending. A group of a few, or even a single person, could be a business entity. People within these tightly knit entities help each other to succeed while actualizing themselves. The driving force of economy and society will not be massive corporations anymore but will be the people instead.

A True Integration of Global Economy

The global economy has not truly merged into one in the IT era. Firewalls, different currencies, and different ideologies are all obstacles to true integration. If a Chinese citizen does not have a VPN for bypassing firewalls, they cannot access foreign social platforms or news sites. Almost no network company can gain entrance to the whole world, rather than just parts of the world. The concept of “a global village” has been talked about for a long time, but as mature as the internet has developed, many countries are still islands, not part of the village.

Different countries have different currencies and payment networks, causing cross-border transactions to be extremely inefficient and costly, which in turn makes high-frequency transactions with small amounts virtually impossible. But the existence of blockchain and digital currency has made global micropayments possible. Transactions made with digital currencies running on blockchain networks have low cost and short processing time. Digital currencies are recognized around the globe, fundamentally circumventing the shortcomings of traditional monetary and financial tools.

The era of DT will be more open and welcoming. It is needed by the world, an inevitability of development. It uses blockchain networks as its foundation to realize a true interconnection and integration among individuals around the globe.

Epilogue

In the era of DT, building a strategic data ecosystem will take the place of private corporations. The ecosystem will truly provide fair services to individuals. As of now, such an ecosystem has stepped onto the road of exploration.

Tweebaa, the next generation of social network platform, creates its own influence mechanism based on users’ social networking activities, offering each and every individual the opportunity to build their online influence. Tweebaa provides full tools for productizing their value, encouraging users to explore all facets of their values. You will be rewarded financially at the same time as helping others, receiving satisfaction and joy while achieving self-actualization.

Tweebaa’s service is available to all users around the world, truly connecting the islands from the era of internet technology, providing a digital asset for value exchange. Individuals from all over the world create, share, and gain in this ecosystem. All forms of economic cultures can merge here, empowering each other, and create a true “global village” together.