Blockchains, the railroads of the 21st century
Manifest Destiny and WAGMI: belief systems of the possible.
This is the first of a three part mini-series exploring critical infrastructure of the past and looking ahead to its corollary of the future.
In this feature:
A deep dive on what inspired westward US expansion
An introduction to how a belief evolved into transcontinental railroads
A Meta Moment: blockchain is looking like the modern day railroad
Manifest Destiny
One of the strongest beliefs in 19th century North America was the idea of Manifest Destiny. The belief Manifest Destiny was anchored in the idea that the newly founded American values must be spread across the entire continent. For years, much of this was done by foot, horseback and carriages.
To paint the picture of the type of person that’d take on this mantra:
Horses could go about ~30 miles in a day
Walmart was not within 15 miles of 90% of Americans
Power bars were not a thing
The Interstate Highway Act wasn’t passed until 1956
After road tripping across the country, this experience is easier today:
Google Maps for navigation (downloadable maps even for places without reception)
Gas stations within average car fuel range (even in the most desolate places)
Rest stops, restaurants and convenience stores along interstate highways
Airbnbs and hotels for accommodations
Progress has been made. All the above sounds luxurious in comparison.
Before getting to this point, there were significant advancements in transportation that accelerated the US economy since the Civil War.
Queue the Commodore, Oakes & Oliver
After Reconstruction America, the Gilded Age was under way. The Gilded Age spotlighted an unprecedented investment boom. Oil, Steel and Railroads took the country by storm. Business Tycoons like J.D. Rockefeller, Andrew Carnegie and Cornelius Vanderbilt accelerated the development of these core tenants for the US economy.
Oil made “Manifest Destiny” monetizable.
Steel enabled the development of more advanced boats and railways.
Railways were the roads before 1956 and the Interstate Highway Act.
Whether it was for passengers, business or freight - Cornelius Vanderbilt was at the center of the westward migration across America. He was involved with various rail providers throughout the mid- and late-1800s across eastern and midwestern states. Vanderbilt, like the others, brought vertical integration to US infrastructure. He bridged organizational silos of regional rail passages, which allowed for the movement of people and goods from New York to Chicago for the first time in history.
While Vanderbilt was integrating railways east of the Mississippi, Union Pacific was operating similarly in the west. With support of federal investment, Oakes and Oliver Ames expanded Union Pacific Railroad. In time, both worlds collided in 1869 when the first transcontinental railway was forged. Today, I-80 looks very similar.
Planes, Trains & Automobiles
In the modern day, it may be hard to imagine the United States without connected roads.
It took a few decades to go from a belief - Manifest Destiny - to a country-wide connected rail system. These few decades incorporated immense uncharted expeditions (~3,000 miles or 4,800 Km), a Civil War and more analog technology to build with.
After witnessing the power of rail transport, the production of automobiles began to ascend during the late 1800s. It didn’t take long for mass production of cars to make way for the next step change in transport.
With another few decades, cars went from a startup idea to mass production. In 1907, Henry Ford brought the Model T to market; allowing the everyday person to have convenient mobility. Around the same time, the Wright Brothers had their first flight in 1903. A decade later, the first iteration of a commercial flight took off.
These types of developments were happening elsewhere in the world as well. Karl Benz made advancements in Germany for automobiles and Alberto Santos-Dumont did similarly with the first flight in Italy.
The progress made from Manifest Destiny, a belief, to cross-continental transportation is remarkable.
The Settlers were the OG Crypto Degens
Looking back on the 19th century, it was a minority people with the belief in Manifest Destiny that took action. It’s estimated that less than 500,000 people embarked on a journey based on this belief (Source: History.com) by 1870. The estimated population of the United States at the time was roughly 38.5 million. These folks comprised less than 13% of the population and were the ones who pioneered the frontier for a connected continent.
In time, the scientific focus shifted. The mathematical backbone of the 1800s was physics and then in the 1900s it was computer science. This reshaped the growth paradigm from continental expansion physically to digital expansion globally.
In the 1980s, the Internet Protocol Suite (TCP/IP) was adopted as a global communication standard. This enabled a generational shift in technology as consumer computers made in the 70s now had greater utility. These advancements led to the “.com era” and the ensuing smartphone paradigm. All of these developments were built on a new railway system with TCP/IP and the settlers of the 80s and 90s were developers and entrepreneurs.
For reference:
OG: original
Degens: speculators of the digital economy
Blockchains, the new railway for the 21st Century
Throughout history, these patterns have played out before and society underestimated its potential. Degens and forward thinkers of the 1800s brought us transcontinental rail in America. Degens and forward thinkers of the 1900s brought advancements in modes of travel like cars, trains and airplanes. And degens and forward thinkers at the turn of the millennium enabled the world to be globally connected.
Looking into the 21st century, there is a new cohort of degens. Developers and early adopters of blockchain-based technology. With very rough estimates, the minority is likely smaller than the Manifest Destiny advocates of the 1800s. The new settler cohort is likely still under the 13% of the population.
Despite this cohort having smaller numbers proportionally, it has unprecedented modern tools. The world is more connected than ever and new approaches to collaboration have surfaced.
In roughly a decade, blockchain technology has transitioned from an alternate form of payment to fully-fledged applications. Bitcoin started in 2009. Since then:
Blockchains like Ethereum launched in 2015, allowing for more robust applications to form with smart contracts
Decentralized Finance (aka DeFi) grew in popularity and users in 2019; increasing financial and economic access to basics like money market accounts, loans and trading platforms
Non-Fungible Tokens (aka NFTs) digitized cultural icons and physical assets through blockchain technology
Real-world applications have been built through blockchain technology, like Truflation to provide real-time inflation information for the US & UK or Cache Gold to bring gold into the blockchain environment; making it easier to transfer stores of value globally
A challenge for this cohort of settlers is that they are making their “transcontinental voyage” in public. The other 87% of people in the United States during the 1800s didn’t see encounters with wild bears or bandits. They weren’t along for the ride when food ran out and a travel companion got sick or cold. And they did not have the same access to interconnected communication to share the highs and lows while on their journey.
Today, the most powerful social networks are the homes for the new generation of settlers: the WAGMI generation (WAGMI stands for “we are gonna make it” on crypto twitter). This generation of settlers live on Twitter, Discord, Telegram and other social platforms that allow for global idea sharing and 24/7 product development. Additionally, these platforms can cause great distraction for both the 13% of builders and misinformed narratives to latch onto for the 87% of observers.
The battle cry that has developed in this generation of settlers sounds different, but at a birds-eye view feels the same. WAGMI may very well be the new Manifest Destiny, and blockchains have the promise to be the new railroads of the 21st century.
The next Meta Moment will visit railroad towns. What made them compelling destinations for train travelers?
For more resources on blockchain technology:
What is blockchain? (McKinsey & Company)
What is a blockchain? (Coinbase)
But How Does Bitcoin Work? (YouTube: 3Blue1Brown)
What is a blockchain? (YouTube: Whiteboard Crypto)