20XX – Evolution Stage X+1
You are driving through the country side, the wind is gently blowing in your hair and the mellow sound of your favorite song is playing in the background. There is company, the people closest to you are with you and one just cracked a joke. It brings a smile to your face.
You have reached the beach, a beautiful white sand beach in the middle of no where. There is an empty parking spot you park your car in. You hear a faint but familiar beep, inside your head, as you exit the car.
All around, people are having a good time, youthful exuberance in abundance. There is a strong urge to get into the alluring blue waters, even have your favorite swimming costume with you today. But you need to be at your workplace in the next 5 minutes. Swim at the beach and risk getting late to work? Hmm…This would be the 3rd time in a month, the boss certainly won’t be happy. You decide against it, will have a swim next time. Hug your friends & family, tell them we will do it next time.
You punch in the alphanumeric code to enter the office on your left forearm, a code you do not really remember but an OTP of sorts that just feeds into your thoughts. You close your eyes for 10 seconds.
Your boss is looking at you from her desk, you barely made it today! One customer has just walked into the store, it’s the end of Sales Week, footfalls are low. As an Asst. Store Manager, you adjust your tie, walk up to “it” and introduce yourself. After a bit of bargaining, the customer bought a gold bracelet mod.
There is a faint but familiar beep that only the customer hears, inside “it’s” head. As “it” walks out of the store, there is no familiar loud audible alarm that is heard.
Payment is successful!
2021 – Evolution Stage X
What I detail below is not a current picture in 2021, but just a breakdown of the happenings in 20XX in the language of 2021
- The above story is not a dream. Both the scenarios in the story are independent Virtual Reality (VR) metaverses, the drive to the beach was one and the store was the other. Your real physical self is at home, eyes closed with an attachable flat small square chip sticking to the temple of your head, switching between metaverses.
- The one who cracked a joke on the drive to the beach was your childhood friend who lives physically on another continent. You meet often though (through VR). And the people on the beach are avatars in VR.
- The alphanumeric code you received was a daily passcode (dynamic) to enter your work (the store) metaverse.
- The Customer, “It”, is just another virtual avatar like you as the store manager or your other avatar at the beach. “It” may or may not appear to have a defined gender, what you see is just the avatar (the same way as today any guy/girl/non-binary can play as Mario in Mario Kart)
- The gold bracelet mod that “It” bought is a NFT (non fungible token), ring a bell? What is an NFT, and how did an artist called Beeple sell one for $69 million at Christie’s?
- The faint familiar beep that you heard while parking at the beach, yes, the same one that “it” heard at the store after purchase, was a payment debited notification from your bank where you hold your crypto savings account. Most keep their payment notifications audio on, but some prefer not to.
- The alarm that did not go off when the customer exited the store after purchase, would have been sounded had the payment transaction failed. Does not happen as often as it did in 2021.
- The payment is actually happening in the real world through cryptocurrency, it may just be called currency by 20XX and the one you use may just be one of many that your bank allows as legal tender.
- “You” are a 40 year old individual living physically in Rue Verdi, Nice, France. Your avatar is a 25 year old individual switching between metaverses.
- Your boss is not human but a complex algorithm that associates with the female gender, she grades your performance.
- I have chosen 20XX and not 2XXX to indicate that this may happen within the 21st century.
Although this article is currently a figment of my imagination put to words, but this may be the way of the future, how people live, socialize and interact with currency. This maybe how evolution happens.
You will be able to “live” in your own ideal Metaverse (Paradise), your physical self may still need support like banking, nutrition, medicine (there may be an option to passover though – watch San Junipero). And industries supporting your physical self in anyway, will always be around even in the Metaverse.
All industries will undergo drastic evolution, banking too. The evolution could entail a long list of features the Banks of the future may/may not have in 20XX. I have listed a few below but would love to see your suggestions in the comments
- A custody service to store the JPG image file NFT artwork that Beeple sold for $69Million.
- Blockchain based currency payments
- NFT Assets, derivatives off NFTs traded on markets
- No physical presence
- An expansive banking metaverse for its employees and customers
- Employees spread across the globe (maybe even on Mars, who knows!?)
Will everyone have access to Paradise? Maybe yes in Virtual reality but maybe not in physical reality. But will this help reduce the stress that normality brings to people currently, maybe, a tiny bit.
