Turn Ideas into Reality
Thoughts & Musings
Much of Crypto is what we already know - traditional finance - only using different terms to define the same concepts in an attempt to solve people’s needs as it relates to money.
Since we now live in a digital world the need is to provide the individual, entity, or machine with the ability to transfer value over the internet without restrictions or borders.
To almost all of us, the dollar is the end all be all. We want more, need more and go out of our way to do whatever we can to get more.
For what? Why? What's it's purpose? Because, realistically... the dollar has absolutely almost NO VALUE. No intrinsic value that is.
It's a piece of cotton paper and that's it.
You see Crypto Currencies are greatly misconceived by CNBC, Bloomberg and well pretty much any other big box media outlet. There not even really currencies, for the most part. I mean in some places yes. In the future, possibly. But who really cares. They don't have to be currencies. What Crypto Currencies are, is a set of networks. That's what's important. They are networks which transfer money and information.
Over the past few years, it seems everyone is obsessed with using the term Millennial.
Retailers - we must get the Millennials.
Businesses - we must restructure our office space to attract Millennials.
Marketers - Do this to attract the Millennials.
The focus has been on Millennials in the sense that they are a group of people defined by a certain age range; roughly 18 to 34. Grouping by age bracket is the norm for defining generations and it has always been done this way. However, I'm beginning to believe that in this case it's a mistake. If you look deeper, Millennial isn't a group defined by age. It's an evolution in the way we live our lives.
Generally speaking, outside of marketing efforts to target this group, the term Millennial is often used in more of a negative context. You hear this group defined as those who want everything on demand, digital, shared and as one's who really don't like to "work" as hard as their elders. I've always struggled making sense of this stigmatism until recently while reading "Thank You for Being Late" by Thomas Friedman. Hat tip to my brother for making the recommendation.
In his book, Friedman references the work of John Hagel III, John Seely Brown, and Lang Davison in what they call "the Big Shift". They note:
"... we're moving from a long period of history which stocks were the measure of wealth and the driver of growth - how much of every resource imaginable you could stock up on and then draw down and exploit - to a world in which the most relevant source of comparative advantage will be how rich and numerous are the flows passing through your country or community and how well trained your citizen-workers are to take advantage of them..."
At this point, it clicked. In many conversations over the years I've discussed my belief that the world changed because of the Great Recession in 2007/2008, yet no one realized it. This is also the main thesis of Friedman's book. Society has only focused on the crash and the choices of our presidential candidates as being the reason the economy has suffered until more recently.
In my opinion, the biggest driver of this slow growth and slight recovery was due to the battle between older and younger workers. They view the world very differently and buttheads over how to best use the technology, tools and resources at their disposal. Until recently there seemed to be a big divide between the two working groups. Our current business models weren't built to operate on using technology and the people in positions of power weren't trained to use technology to make business decisions. Past generations relied mostly on subjectivity and tenure while younger generations rely on technology and data.
So why does this matter?
Because Millennial isn't a way of life defined by an age group. It's a revolutionary change. A societal shift including major changes in behavior patterns, wants, needs and desires. Just as Friedman, Hagel, Brown, and Davison pointed out. It's an alteration in how we do things.
The disruption and changes we are seeing are driven by technological tools and the efficiencies brought with it. We've mistakenly associated these changes with an age group instead of an evolution in our way of life. Millennial has been associated with a group because the younger generation is the first to spend their entire life with all this technology at their fingertips. They've used it for years and brought it into the work place where almost no one understood how to use it. Realistically, the younger group is the only ones that understand how all these "new" technologies work together, and they know the most efficient ways to use it.
Having said that, there is ample opportunity for anyone to learn how to use technology, young or old; and people are. More and more people are accessing learning resources on the web to upgrade their skillset to those required in today's workforce. If a person learns these tools and shifts their behavior to match today's society then they too are a Millennial. We are seeing this happen.
A Millennial is not a group defined by age. It's a way of business and a way of life. It's just another form of evolution that comes with time.
Every century we see drastic shifts that drive change in our society. We are facing one of these shifts and it's happening faster than ever before. It's no different than the steam engine, car and bridges developed in the 18th century. Or, the advent of paper, electricity, telephones, and lights in the 19th century. In the 20th century it was the radio, television, cell phone and internet. All of these new technologies brought about great change which lead to further evolution. These things are, in my view, Millennial.
I don't believe a Millennial is someone in their mid 30s or younger. It's not someone that fills the negative narrative we've been told. A Millennial may be 65, 45, 30 or 25; it doesn't matter. A Millennial is someone who learns and adopts new tools and technologies to adapt a new way of behavior which most suits the time period they live in. These tools technologies and behavior patterns will constantly change and evolve as we move throughout history. They always have, and always will.
-Kane
A new batch of Christmas toys all ready to go! These guys are looking for warm weather and the up coming Big Green Egg grilling season.
It's been fun building and putting these tables together but it's nice to see them clear space for new things to come.
Hi - continue to check back. At this time I am in the process of completing several projects but hope to have new content up soon!
Looking forward to building pieces that turn your home into your personal getaway!
