Skip to main content

The Decline of Big Institutions and the Rise of Sovereign Individuals

As term starts with remote learning instead of masses of students returning to their educational institutions, it's hard not to notice the changes happening all around us.

As industries change and develop, there is always a mass movement away from what was once generally accepted as the norm. When mp3 came about, there was a giant exit away from the record industry. As streaming services became available, no longer did listeners 'own' the music they listen to, but nor did they need to. Accessibility is now greater than ever before. More choice, more freedom, more autonomy?

Brexit is another example. Better together, or better on our own? Most people have already made their mind up about this one, but time will tell. 

Online Learning platforms such as Udemy and Coursera have existed for a while. They are an exit from universities and have millions of users gaining qualifications already. Udemy alone has over 35 million students and 57,000 instructors teaching courses in over 65 languages. Technological advancements are levelling the playing field and will continue to do so. 

Virtual healthcare companies and healthcare technology companies such as Teledoc and Ontrak are on the rise, moving patients away from traditional forms of healthcare. The telehealth market is estimated to grow to $23 billion in 2025 from only $8.3 billion in 2019 (Motley Fool). The growth of this industry has only been accelerated by Covid-19.

Today (03/01/2021) the price of Bitcoin has hit an all-time high of £25,399. The Bitcoin experiment started on this very day in 2009 - 12 years ago. When I left school in 2016, Bitcoin was worth £500. If only I could turn back time...maybe it's not even too late now? Decentralised and unregulated currency is a move away from global banks and is firmly establishing the separation of state and money. I think this is only the beginning. 

Educational institutions still hold very high social value and remote learning is simply not a way for children to learn, so I don't believe they will go away anytime soon. People question whether large institutions have the best interests of the individual at heart. Perhaps further decentralisation will lead to the more sovereign individual - if that is to be our ultimate goal. 

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Social Media and Our Perception of Success and Failure

Go on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter etc. and try and find a post or picture of someone depicting a positive aspect of their life, whether it's them on an expensive holiday, having a nice time with all their friends smiling, or perhaps a post about some success in their work or academic life. It probably won't be long, scrolling through, before you find one, or several. Now try and find one that depicts a less positive aspect of someone's life. Perhaps showing how lonely they are, how they failed their exam, got fired from work, are eating simple and cheap food etc. It will no doubt be much harder, if not near impossible to find. Why? No one wants to show people the boring and rubbish parts of their life, but instead want to show everyone how good their lives are: how happy they are, how successful they are, how rich they are, how life is just so perfect! No one posts their failures. It's obvious, isn't it? It's completely natural that people want to be perce...
Post a Comment
Read more

Ceteris Paribus

Ceteris Paribus: all other things being equal.  This Latin term used in economics is a short-hand way to explain certain economic ideas in an isolated context, in order to understand two different variables and their relationship in as simple terms as possible.  For example, let's say the price of beef goes up, Ceteris Paribus (all other things being equal), you would expect the demand for beef to go down. That is quite simple. However, in reality, there are many other economic factors to consider which makes a clear analysis very difficult. Ceteris Paribus is, therefore, a rather big assumption to make, and one which does not reflect truly on the complexity of reality, but rather, acts as a means of applying certain analytical models.  We analyse so much in our everyday lives, be it our relationships, other people's relationships, the academic articles we study, the stock market, historical events, and so on and so forth.  How much do w...
1 comment
Read more

Just Do It

Read as much as you want. Plan as much as you want.  Edit as much as you want.  Prepare as much as you. Wait as long as you need.  Or Just do it.  Start before you think you're ready. Anything worth doing is worth doing badly. "We have two lives, and the second begins when we realise we only have one." - Confucius 
Post a Comment
Read more