Preface

I have been thinking about writing a post on several decentralization concepts surrounding crypto currencies, de-fi and web 3.0 space. This is for my own note keeping and creating an interest surrounding the progress. While I am contemplating, I got some time to complete the podcast episode of Balaji Srinivasan with Tim Ferris about the same. Most of these episodes are quite in-depth and thought provoking. But this one got much more interesting, when I drew some parallels with a totally different form of media.

I will share my take on few concepts discussed and relate them to Isekai genre of manga/anime which is quite famous from few years. I hope, I am knowledgeable enough to clearly convey the parallels and the implications we may need to look forward to. Having some introductory knowledge on Blockchain technology, Crypto and Web3 ecosystem will help understand the post better. Isekai genre knowledge is much more welcome.

The Two Worlds

Isekai

As per Wikipedia, Isekai is a Japanese genre of light novels, manga, anime and video games that revolve around a person who is transported to and has to survive in another world, such as a fantasy world, virtual world, planet or parallel universe. This plot device allows the audience to learn about the new world at the same pace as the protagonist.

Most commonly the different world is governed by different physical laws, mostly magic and is on a lower level of technology similar to our medieval times. It is often affected by alien technology and thought of the protagonist where of course he/she stands out and bring revolutionary changes in society (There are few exceptions).

Isekai has been famous for past few years and often opined to be popular due to the fantasy elements of re-incarnation/re-location, genius progress in pre-modern era using technology, and magic. And most times the protagonist ends up winner due to his knowledge of modern world, often mis-interpreted as intelligence. He brings technology/magic progress through his gamer instincts resulting in improved social status/reputation of self. Maybe these fantasy elements where a commoner can ascend over the social hierarchy using modern knowledge in medieval times inspired hope in its readers. There is an upsurge in such content over years. It is a fantasy vision of the Rags to Riches/The American Dream.

Apart from the fantasy aspect, the social structures in the Isekai World are primarily Three, similar to the medieval periods.

  1. The Kingdom (King): This includes the Nobility and around 7 classes of nobles from Baron to the King. They have a Kingdom and an Army and strife with civil struggles. They collect taxes and rule in a centralized way with help of bureaucrats at several levels.
  2. The Clergy (The Church/Faith): The followers of certain faith with a Church/Institution representing them. Their income is through alms and healing work. The gods are certainly different, but it is a replica of the Catholic Church. They wage Holy wars with the Holy Knights under church if necessary either for or against the Kingdom. They can be a single or multiple entities.
  3. Guilds: Guild are generally service businesses which provide security and material procurement. They are independent of the above and provide a medium of exchange between different sectors like Food, Pharmacy and Crafts. If you are a Coat Maker, you submit a request to guild for pelts of leather and they provide it.

While Kings retain their position through Inheritance, Faith through followers, Guilds do this with help of governed individuals whose contributions lead to either societal security or progress. Let’s not bring the micro-economics of field work and common populace, cause, who cares if they exist? They will adapt to the institutional alignments or protest or perish in the process.

The Protagonist generally joins a guild, often an Adventurer who takes care of monsters and progresses on a level basis, based on achievements (This is for Action/magic/fantasy elements, and They are too many exceptions as well). Will give more details as we go forward. Kingdom, Church and Guilds form the Triad in the Isekai world, and we will try to relate this with some current thoughts/theories of modern progress.

For any similarities to be looked upon, we need two different ideas and here, it is the Post-Anarchy World. So, what is it?

Post-Anarchy World

While the Isekai world is fictional, There are several changes in real-world which may lead to the Post-Anarchy world from the Physical world we live in. So let us first look at the current Triad before delving into the world which they may or may not result in.

As per the theory/matters presented, there are 3 extreme entities/states which are part of the modern change going on, amid the Crypto Influx, Mental Health and Personal Independence, the democratization of Internet/De-centralization and Wokeness.

  1. The Chinese Communist Party - CCP: It is a highly centralized chain of command which can take decisions with absolute power and almost little to no resistance. It is a completely locked world of social credit, strict censorship, and absolute surrender. It wants us to submit because, what more can you do against the power? It can represent several other totalitarian governments as well.
  2. The Woke Capital - NYT*: It is a noble altruist faction which believes, we must always sympathize with the less fortunate. And who is the less fortunate? Almost everyone. This represents the Cancel culture in general. If you are a Billionaire/Celebrity/Someone with just a regular paycheck, you must apologize for being fortunate and give back to society irrespective of your freedom of thought. It is also sometimes called Far Left Socialist Ideology.
  3. Crypto Capital - BTC: This says you must be sovereign and self-sufficient. Exaggerating/Maybe Understanding further a bit, all your assets must be in crypto stored on a pen drive with own private keys and living in a no-man’s land independently of the societal structures.

Many things at Macro Level are changing, like Finance, Natural Resources (Coal, Rare earth metals), Energy and Technological Progress (Crypto, Bio, Robo and Info in general). Based on these changes few predictions are made.

According to the Predictions (Mainly from the Podcast), In coming Decades, America (at least few states) become the representatives of Woke Capital, China directly referred of Central Power and Crypto Maximalists of the third. It is expected that while China further goes into Centralized Control, US goes into Anarchy, and India a harbinger of Balance through a Central Stand.

So, what is the Post- Anarchy World? Well, it is a click-bait for now. What I want to convey is a prediction already done above. When the dust settles, it can be a reality in the future. The Gig, Content Creator and Ownership Economy can together create this predicted reality, when adjoined with a Block-Chain based governance. We can debate about if/when it happens, but it is not the thought of this post.

My main Idea is to bring an interest on various things going around which may/may not directly affect us now. But they can change our lives in unthinkable ways by compounding over time. I want to try simplifying this using the Isekai example.

So how do these two different trains of thought come together? Will continue in the next post.

References

Podcast On YouTube : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qRao8xS_nyM

Podcast Transcript : https://tim.blog/2021/11/17/balaji-srinivasan-2-trancript/

WikiPage on Isekai : https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Isekai

NYT - I think NYT refers New York Times, Traditional Media which is happy to push the Cancel culture and incite Reputation Destruction.