[Cryptography] The Dawn of the Crypto Age

[CANNON NATHANIEL CIOTA]

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The Dawn of the Crypto Age
by CANNON C. , in the year 2015

- -An essay on how crypto technologies will shape our world, and why 
these technologies are often met with government opposition-

  Throughout all of the chapters of history, civilization struggles in a 
constant battle between liberty and tyranny, progression and corruption. 
For the world is plentiful in numerous points of its history of a 
populace oppressed by governments. Like a beast untamed or loosened, or 
a fire fueled and spread, it is the natural tendencies of governments to 
become corrupt and to perpetually expand and maintain power. This is not 
because government in itself is corrupt, but rather because mankind is 
corrupt through greed, in the pursuit of wealth and power at the expense 
of a nation while utilizing the powerful body of government as their 
tool. Government makes a handsome target of exploitation to the corrupt 
and enemies of liberty due to the centralization of power that 
governments wield and the position of the tool of government being in 
the high layer of power, known as the political realm.

  Until now, the balance of power sat in the hands of governments who 
have gone rogue at the conduction of usurpers and tyrants and have been 
used to empower themselves while oppressing the populace and liberty, 
whether openly or covertly. However, in the modern age, in this dawn of 
the crypto revolution which follows the still advancing and parallel 
technological revolution, the balance of power in the world is shifting 
from that of governments and usurpers to the people.

  Throughout history, humankind has been through various golden ages of 
enlightenment, and of technological advancements and progressions. It is 
this evolution in the advancement of humankind which has altered the 
foundation for which future technology and the direction of civilization 
is based. We have had the Age of Enlightenment, the scientific 
revolution, the Renaissance, the Industrial Revolution, and the 
technological/informational revolution, to name a few. And now, even 
when the latter is still young, we enter another age that parallels it: 
the dawn of the crypto revolution, which is based upon the 
infrastructure of the current technological/informational revolution.

  The context of the word "revolution" in the case of this writing refers 
to that of sudden change in the world brought about by advancements in 
technologies and discoveries, while "crypto" or "cryptographic" is 
referring to the use of encryption (codes) paired with technology to 
create systems immune to espionage, control, and takedown by an enemy.

  The newly emerging technology brought about by the crypto revolution is 
built on our current technological infrastructure. The advent of our 
current computerized cyber-infrastructure makes an easy way to build, 
host, and deploy decentralized protocols. It is also cyberspace that 
connects us all and breeds innovation through uncensored and 
decentralized communications such as the Internet, hence why the crypto 
revolution began shortly after the birth of the technological 
revolution. This new technology will secure itself and also secure 
society from the current flaws in our informational technology 
infrastructure which that same society has come to rely upon.

  The crypto revolution will alter the shape of the workings of 
civilization in positive ways to advance us towards a more perfect 
civilization, just as the technological revolution altered the way we 
communicate, do business, interact, etc. And just as how the industrial 
revolution altered the way we travel, manufacture, and live, to too 
shall the crypto revolution shape our world. This time, this era in 
human progression will impact the workings of the economy, politics, 
banking, governments... all in a way that will make the workings of the 
pre-crypto age antiquated and perhaps even scoffed at by future 
generations.

  Just as the crypto revolution is based on the technological revolution 
which was based on the industrial revolution, so too shall some other 
future progressions be based on the crypto revolution. These future 
progressions as a result of the crypto revolution I foresee being 
comprised of political, economic, and social advancements.

  Although progressions in the advancement of civilization are often 
beneficial to the human race, advancement is sometimes met with 
opposition by the existing power structure. This opposition by the 
minority who wield power over the rest is due to the threat this new 
technology/discovery presents to their power. Opposition can also often 
be due to lack of understanding of the new technology.

  The future of technology I am describing can be referred to as 
decentralized cryptographic protocols - secure, open source, self 
regulating, decentralized, cryptographic protocols, to be more 
descriptive. For the new way will be a better way, a way void of the 
major flaws and imperfection of the former which have empowered the 
corrupt and created insecure systems causing results which have haunted 
our society. These newly emerging technologies will repair the security 
flaws which came about by having a society that became reliant upon 
informational technology. The root of many of the current security flaws 
in our world come from the exploitation of vulnerabilities that are a 
result of the lack of the following three items, which I refer to 
together as the triangle of security.

Integrity, Availability, and Confidentiality
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* Integrity.
Through cryptographic proof. Protecting from unauthorized manipulation 
or forgery.

* Availability.
Through decentralization, keeping safe from attack by denial of service. 
or takeover by corruption and those security risks that are posed by 
centralization.

* Confidentiality.
Again, through cryptology. Keeping communications and information safe 
from unauthorized access.

  The flaws caused by a lack of any part of this triangle of security can 
be mitigated with decentralized cryptographic protocols which address a 
solution for all three of these security needs.

  A few examples of how the birth of cryptographic technologies will 
affect us in these three ways (not in any particular order but of equal 
importance):

  Confidentiality: No longer can threats to the populace undermine the 
security of the world through informational-warfare/espionage with ease 
as civilization and informational infrastructure shall be secured with 
cryptology. No longer can governments, oppressors, and adversaries 
unjustly spy on a population with ease or target them for political 
gain, intimidation, persecution, or control. Cryptology will ensure 
confidentiality by preventing governments from spying on communications.

  Availability: No longer will society be prone to attack by an adversary 
due to the weakness of centralization. When a society is reliant upon 
informational technology, as is the current case, that same society is 
vulnerable to a compromising of protocols and information that are 
centralized. For centralization introduces a higher risk of security due 
to a single point of failure. This is the case with both technology and 
government structures (an example being why governments are prone to 
corruption due to their centralization; even when governments are 
designed to be decentralized, they often becomes more centralized in 
power over time). Cryptology, in the form of decentralized cryptographic 
protocols, will ensure availability by preventing governments from 
taking down services, protocols, or information they do not like.

  Integrity: No longer shall our civilization be vulnerable to spoofing, 
identity theft, fraud, or manipulation - whether that manipulation be of 
just a simple document, the voting results of public consensus. or other 
information (just to name a few examples). Through cryptographic proof, 
cryptography will ensure integrity and prevent tampering of data.

  This is why information and technological dominance is a very valuable 
and sought after asset. In the technological/information age, 
unauthorized access to informational technology can compromise all 
security since everything runs on technology. These are the same 
security flaws which this newly emerging technology will help to protect 
us from.

  Technology can be used against the people just as much as it can be 
used to empower the people. This is why governments wish to suppress 
technological and, ultimately, human progression. For the future 
eliminates imperfection and corruption. We are now at the crossroads, in 
which technology used against the people is now progressing to the point 
that it will be used against corrupt governments and bring about a 
global balance of power. Governments also hate anything they cannot 
control. If governments cannot control something. they will attempt to 
destroy it.

  Some of the changes, among many, which will be brought about by this 
new technology of decentralized cryptographic protocols will be 
decentralized markets immune to government control or takedown; 
distributed autonomous corporations and stock exchanges; self-enforcing 
smart contracts; secure and decentralized self-regulating financial 
systems known as crypto-currencies (such as Bitcoin); along with secure 
peer-to-peer escrow protocols resulting in anonymous and 
theft/confiscation-proof money, distributed crowd-funding platforms, and 
secure communications systems (such as Bitmessage or I2P-Bote); secure, 
anonymous, and fraud-proof identities; secure voting and consensus 
systems; distributed secure databases of information and records (such 
as Namecoin); legal document timestamping (known as "Proof of 
Existence"); secure property titles; secure wills and legal documents; 
secure distributed authentication systems; and distributed and anonymous 
reputation systems. Another result of crypto is meshnet networks immune 
to government control or surveillance that are known as darknets, which 
may eventually replace the current Internet infrastructure. The main 
structures of banks and governments may very well be replaced by secure, 
decentralized, self-regulating protocols which run on this technology. 
This is just to name a few things that will emerge or have started to 
emerge as a result of the crypto revolution.

  Crypto technologies offer the ability to secure a population from the 
security flaws which cause identity theft, fraud, financial theft, 
corruption, manipulation, surveillance, and cyber attacks. Though this 
new technology protects society from such things which we suffer from 
today, it is also these things that governments and criminals use to 
control society and the populace. As a result, the security brought 
about by the newly emerging technology of decentralized cryptographic 
protocols threatens the ability of governments and criminals to continue 
their grip on a monopoly of control and power. Governments are often 
opposed to cryptology for this very reason. The suppression of 
cryptology is often done through "regulations" that are actually 
intended to cripple that technology, as well as outright bans on it, 
along with the targeting of its users. Another technique often deployed 
is use of the media to demonize cryptology through lies and fallacies - 
telling us that such technology is dangerous to our safety, when the 
truth instead is that the lack of cryptology leaves our liberties and 
our society insecure. Another fallacy often used to pass crippling 
regulations is that such technology needs regulation, which is a 
fallacy, for decentralized cryptographic protocols are already regulated 
by the principles of math which such protocols are built upon. These 
very rules of math which power these decentralized cryptographic 
protocols are perfect and incorruptible, unlike regulations done through 
government. Governments will try to suppress technology and human 
progression at the expense of the security of a nation, leaving us 
vulnerable to the security threats which currently plague our world - 
that is, if we allow ourselves to submit to tyranny by willingly 
complying.

  There is a name for those who promote, develop, and support this crypto 
technology and who refuse to comply with the power structures' demands 
to abandon its progression. They are called the cypherpunks. They are 
the modern day architects, the visionaries of today, and the founders of 
tomorrow.

  You can make a difference and help the crypto-age win. Join me. Join 
league with the cypherpunks to improve the world. At the least, learn 
about, support, and promote crypto technologies. If you are up to it, 
learn how to code so you can also contribute to these technologies. For 
we are now in the beginnings of a new era of advancement in civilization 
and the human race: the dawn of the crypto age.

Bitcoin Tip Address (to help support my writings): 
1HcfM3dwy6zoT4kL2zWMD9qZRcsJdjiTST
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