There was no bike ride with the dingbats tonight so I’m writing this instead.

I have a longstanding interest in blockchain and cryptocurrency, both from a learning perspective and as an investment.

Recently, I have revisited iota, both intellectually and financially, after a nine month break from it.

To be honest I’m impressed that the Iota Foundation are still in business and developing the tangle and applaud their treasury function for apparently having the foresight to exchange enough iota for fiat to ensure their continuing survival (in the “how long is a piece of string?” stylee).

Anyway, moving swiftly on to my point.

Why am I a little conflicted?

Because one of the applications of iota for business being developed using the iota digital ID protocol, called “Zebra-Iota-Edge” [link is dead now – Zebra must have bolted πŸ™„], is for a vaccine verification system, to which I am completely opposed for the reasons set out here.

I have a lot to say about digital ID’s in my blog, but what it really boils down to, if I break it down, is that:

  1. Fundamentally digital ID’s already exist in many forms, from National Insurance numbers to experian credits scores, and I have no problem with these.
  2. I am generally a good citizen (I think) and therefore I am not too worried about a social credit score/digital ID system providing access to services, unless of course I get cut off because of a glitch in the matrix; that would be really annoying.
  3. MY ISSUE with a social credit score/digital ID system, is that it could be open to abuse by the tempopowers/permapowers as a tool of coercion by, for example, forcing unwilling people to undergo an experimental, and potentially harmful, medical procedure, in order to participate generally in society – a scenario originally conceived in jest in my post “the domestication of humans“.

So what am I going to do?

Hedge my bets and invest in iota of course!

As Nana used to say – hope for the best but plan for the worse.

It’s why I have a recently installed electricity generator tripwired up to my household supply (by a qualified electrician of course).

And remember peeps. This is not financial advice.

Shares in Ceres have tanked since I last mentioned them. πŸ™„

By giles