Cryptos, the blockchain game, and Atoma

​Can you recall the late 1980s? That time we didn't have cell phones, let alone the internet? When we wrote letters and cards by hand and dropped them into the nearest post box, which usually wasn't right all that close to our home, right? ...Yes, I am actually that old. 

The internet didn't appear until the 1990s, and if you weren't there back then, let me just say that the Internet was nothing like we have today. Compared with what we have today back then it was as clunky as a car with square wheels. However, we were able to find all kinds of information we had never encountered before. Within a decade we had email and actually buy stuff online. Wowee! Another decade shot by and we were able to connect to the Internet using smartphones linked by satellites. By then, we were able to do all that virtually anywhere in the world. Then we had what nerdy kids before the internet was born dreamed about, we could actually make a video phone call. 

Today we take all of this for granted. In less than 40 years we have gone from no internet to all the technological wizardry mentioned above. Arthur C. Clarke did say that any technology sufficiently advanced enough is indistinguishable from magic. He was right.

It truly amazes me how we are able to create technology that changes our world, and by so doing changes our behavior to the point we are driven to create even more advanced technology that... and on it goes. The Internet changed us. It informs, and like it or not it, it's used to control our behavior. So, not all good news. Social media can be used to limit the subjects we discuss, and unfortunately, more directly to misinform us. It must be true or they wouldn’t be telling us, right? We saw the photos and the video, so it's true.

To think otherwise is total paranoia… of course. 

Remember though, most of us were born with the ability to reason. Then again, to rely on rational alone means belief without knowing. That's where the internet steps in as a vast library to help us once more because knowledge is the greatest gift the internet has given us. With reason and knowledge, we are able to make better decisions and faster. The internet is very cool. Just keep in mind we need to use reason as a filter because some of the information is misleading and unfortunately, often intentionally so.

Back in the 1990s, and even in the early years of the following decade it was not uncommon to hear how the Internet was a bubble would eventually pop. There was a dot com crash, but the Internet kept going, and so did the technology associated with it. Sometimes those we think of as authority don’t like the way it helps change us. But, I would say the genie has long escaped the bottle and it's way too late to put the cork back.

We are about to experience the next iteration. It's happening right now.

Cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin and the blockchain technology it's based on is still unfamiliar and seems a little scary if not silly too many of us. Yet, this technology changes the world in ways most of us could never imagine. Yes, few of us know anything about the technology, and yet it’s coming down the line like a runaway train. There are questions we should ask, but many don’t know to ask them. These are the how, why, where, and the who kind of questions.  

I was thinking about all this one day and decided to write a book for those who stand at the forefront of the brave new world of Cryptos, Blockchain, Hashgraph, et al. That's all of us by the way, but yes, I am pointing at you, the one with your eyes open. I thought, why not write a series exploring both the good and the bad of this new technology, including the brain exploding scenarios that only good SF could possibly do justice to? 

A series for teens and young adults (and we know a fair number of older readers enjoy YA books and movies). It would have a good dose of humor, and romance. It would have action and adventure, mystery and suspense too. Yeah, I'm talking the whole enchilada! It would be a science fiction story in the near future. 

That's how I came up with my new series Atoma. I really hope you enjoy the story as I publish it over the months ahead. Wild days ahead.