Some year on the future on the outskirts of a big city, an alarm rings at 8 o’clock in a young man’s bedroom. He opens his eyes and instantly recognizes the melody. It is not for nothing that it has been selected beforehand with the purpose of having a stimulating effect to start the day. He mutters a few phrases and activates the voice command, aware that this act is going to trigger a series of events he himself progammed. The first, and most obvious one, the alarm will snooze itself for fifteen minutes. This young man enjoys spending this time in a sleepy state while the coffee pot starts to run as every other day. However, today is friday, so no more functions are active on the kitchen. On fridays he drinks coffee and some fruit waiting in the fridge.

Today is special, it’s our protagonist’s birthday so he stays in bed more awake than usual. He thinks about reocurring things, but tonight’s dinner with his girlfriend consumes every minute. He is a deeply optimist person by nature, so before he wakes up the feeling of being fortunate fills him. His family has always supported him, he has good friends, he works of what he likes and he is happy with his partner.

Professionally, the young man has participated in numerous technological developments and projects, and is currently a reference in the use and experimentation of the most sophisticated innovative proposals. His opinions are highly regarded and have contributed to the launch of some successful new products and technological applications. While having breakfast, he accesses his mobile device. He is surprised by the high ratings received -quantity and quality wise- of a news item on technological field. He selects and schedules the listening of that one and others while he showers and tidies up. He likes what he has heard, the presentation of a new 3D printing technology project that eases the samrt local production of “tailor-made” goods, ready for the final consumer, minimizing transportation costs through the internet of things. He decides to support it and invest with tokens, and so he does, sending a pre-order to be confirmed within 24 hours. Then he regrets and extends the term for another 24 hours. If he does not cancel the order in two days, he will be a shareholder of the company. A situation similar to the first versions of a DAO, only now perfectly integrated with the administration because it will pay the corresponding taxes in an automated manner through Smart Contracts integrated with the Public Finances.

Following the inertia, it also decides to make a donation to an NGO that announces a complete restructuring of its current procedures. The relationship with partners will be developed through a private blockchain, while relations with collaborators, sponsors, or institutions will be supported by a public one. This new hybrid platform guarantees , at the same time, the privacy of users and transparency in the management of resources. “This is the way” he thinks.

Then he closes the application and gets ready to enjoy what could be described as an unspeakable habit. He accesses his favorite forum, specialized in technology, through two different avatars with which he manages his digital identity. One he uses in a correct and institutional way, while in the other he adopts extreme and radical positions. The absolute guarantee of privacy and the peace of mind of knowing that it will be difficult to reveal his identity in this decentralized Internet push him to be frank in both directions.

At times, these forums are a genuine redoubt of knowledge and original ideas, hence their interest in reading and actively participating from opposing positions. Their two avatars are highly regarded among users and sometimes generously rewarded, with similar amounts of tokens, reputation points or “loyalty stars” with real-time rating algorithms for assets. A public distributed platform, which acts as a large marketplace for advertisers, sponsors, merchants and users, accepts these stars in the exchange of goods and services.

Many of these partner companies also often reuse them to reward users for participating in satisfaction surveys or to pay part of their employees’ salaries or bills to their suppliers who use the platform. Fulfilling in part their vision that digital identity could become the money of the future. In the forum there is another reward possibility that our protagonist intentionally avoids: positive ratings can also be noted on other centralized public profiles, but he finds greater satisfaction using decentralized and anonymous identities, and also fulfills his work purposes better. So, as it operates right now, he considers it the near-perfect technology forum.

With the passage of time - and the development of new applications - the young man has managed to become a bit of a celebrity in his niche market. One of his ideas was implemented a few months ago. It is now possible to simultaneously translate speeches accurately into a multitude of languages, opening up the forum, literally, to talent from all over the world, regardless of the language chosen to speak. The use of decentralized digital identities also allows all users to vote in a transparent and verifiable way, a feature so groundbreaking that it could not be ignored for long in another area of public administration. In the next municipal elections, citizens will once again vote in this new scenario of technological innovation.

Today he will use part of those “loyalty token stars” to pay at the restaurant where he will have dinner with his girlfriend. And so he arranges it, using unconsciously, the account of the formal avatar.

It’s already 9 o’clock in the morning and he has to think about how to get to the city center. An unfortunate incident with the leading common carrier has seriously damaged his reputation. He believes he has been the victim of a terrible mix-up, so he is now engaged in a dispute to clear up the situation and be reinstated to his former status. However, he is well aware that he is in “reputational bankruptcy” and it is quite possible that none of the cars connected to the network will want to get him on board because of this misunderstanding. Perhaps it is better to give in and surrender to a process that promises to be long and tedious. And it makes him grumpy just thinking about the efforts he will have to invest in clearing his name, would it be better to accept bankruptcy and start from scratch? Resigned, he thinks of other options. Following a life philosophy of approaching problems as opportunities, he decided to test an autonomous neighborhood bus service. An analysis of his community’s collective data - specifically commuting patterns - revealed the predictable success of such a service.

In the elevator he meets his neighbor, an elderly person with whom he maintains a cordial relationship. The typical polite question, to know someone’s actual status, gives him the opportunity to let off a little steam and express his indignation and the unfairness of his “reputational bankruptcy”. The neighbor, who manages the building’s electrical network and is a member of the neighborhood electrical committee, sympathizes and offers his transportation as an alternative. He rarely uses his car, but at least he forces himself to take it out of the garage once a month. Before starting it up, he will take out compulsory insurance for the next nine hours and until next month. But today the neighbor encounters an added inconvenience. The premium has gone up slightly due to the bad weather forecast.

The young man is grateful for the offer, but politely declines. He has already hired the local bus service, which will be at the indicated place to pick him up in just five minutes. Cancellations or minutes of delay are subject to an automatic surcharge or discount on the service, depending on the offender. But today there is no inconvenience and he is already comfortably seated.

He intends to spend the trip listening to music, but before opening the app a memory comes up that subsequently leads to a reflection. He locates in his memory the approximate date of the first successful case of this type of collective data collection initiative and Crowdinvestment. It took place in the pharmaceutical industry by a startup created from scratch, native to the blockchain. Other huge corporations also tried, but their large bureaucratic structures made it impossible to realize anything similar.

The reflection is frequent - too bad I didn’t invest some tokens in that new company! The revaluation of its shares has been as spectacular as that experienced by Bitcoin in its early years. Moreover, he could now be using that service at a much lower cost than new users. Had he signed up then, his data would have been part of the first training of the company’s intelligent systems and, consequently, would have generated much more value than it does now. However, he consoles himself by acknowledging that he was then a teenager who barely had the financial resources to invest. But from there, his imagination leads him to another recurring idea…Would it be possible to replicate a similar success in a newborn state, native to the blockchain? When he develops the concept, that will be the next topic he posts on the forum, that is, under the anonymity of the revolutionary avatar.

He opens the music app. He has it configured with monthly budget that is distributed according to his preferences. This avoids advertising, song cuts and other associated inconveniences. The more songs he listens to, the more retribution he gets. The truth is that he is delighted with this application and despite having to try all the proposals on the market, this is the most successful because it integrates all the data of the artists through open protocols so they can be rewarded in a flexible way.

With this application he discovered new talents and, in some occasions, he has won a bet, demonstrating documentarily, that in a certain way, he was a promoter of the group that everybody talks about. He gratified the demo of the first album of those unknowns. However, today is his birthday and he can’t stop attending the congratulation messages received in the family private blockchain.

A few years ago, when he became fascinated by this world, he wanted to develop his own private blockchain. He needed to learn and experiment on the ground. He thought it was a great idea to involve trusted people who would altruistically take responsibility for the maintenance of his nodes. So he turned to his family members. Over Christmas, he explained his project and got some attention. His generation showed more enthusiasm than the previous one. Although the strong support of a relevant member of it, a brother of his mother, was definitive to develop the blockchain. He always smiles when he remembers his uncle’s heated disgust when he discovered the dissemination of some photos of him on social networks. Normal, the graphic document was undeniable and portrayed his uncle twenty years younger but with forty kilos more. That was described as “insulting indiscretion” and the responsibility for that “disgrace” fell on all his nephews and nieces equally.

It takes just three minutes to get off the bus and arrive at his appointment. The next few hours will be spent in a meeting room where managers, entrepreneurs, developers, lawyers, technicians and computer scientists will share ideas, experiences, regulations and space. Blockchain, artificial intelligence, robotics, 3D, quantum computers, automation, IoT, M2M, cloud platforms, virtual reality, cost savings, security, anonymity, transparency, present and future are the most recurrent words. But despite the excitement of the meeting, in an hour he has a date with his girlfriend and that is the priority of the day.

He arrives a little late and stumbles into the restaurant. The meeting place is not a regular choice. He was looking forward to meeting it because he supplies himself with vegetables from the organic garden he invested in years ago. His girlfriend is waiting for him seated with a drink in her hand. His excuse is the usual, a passionate debate made him lose track of time. His girlfriend smiles. She is fascinated by her partner’s passion when he talks about his work, so much so that it makes up for any reproach. Then begins a private evening that adds nothing to this story.

The young man comes home with a gift. He believes he knows what it is but, as promised, only unwraps it once he is in bed. He can’t believe it. He was convinced, but found it hard to guess it could be true. His girlfriend has hit the nail on the head. In his hands he holds the first edition of a cult book: The code breakers, by David Kahn. He read it many, many years ago and, in a way, it acted as a trigger for a different future. And it’s dedicated! He reads the quote his girlfriend has written and gets excited. He turns off the light and closes his eyes, but inevitably the quote comes back into his head: “Happy birthday. It took me a long time to find it but it was worth it. As you often say, The most sublime resource available to any person is their ability to imagine things. Finding it has taken me to the limit of mine. A kiss”.