Ian Khan is a futurist who expects that blockchain, synthetic intelligence and the Web of Issues will merge collectively to create a completely new sort of world.
He’s the inventor of the Future Readiness Rating, the writer of eight books and the chairperson of the Cash 20/20 fintech convention.
His first film, Blockchain Metropolis, is far from an underground manufacturing. The 42-minute film, which is out there on Youtube and Amazon Prime, is a businessy, optimistic and considerably sanitized tackle the trade. It focuses decisively on piercing the nebulous idea of “blockchain know-how” whereas largely dodging the generally controversial phenomenon of cryptocurrency, selling blockchain as an environment friendly monitoring mechanism furthering the pursuits of “the institution.”
Khan’s positioning within the trade is subsequently very a lot in distinction to the cypherpunk motion — the outdated guard of the blockchain revolution.
These authentic torchbearers of the trade weren’t desirous to see the know-how used to enhance governance methods however to avoid and successfully overthrow them by turning their outdated methods and processes in opposition to them. Such an imagined technological overthrow is, nevertheless, unlikely to succeed with the likes of Khan advising governments on tips on how to forestall disruption by the use of future readiness.
At a elementary stage, Khan considers blockchain-based methods as “a method to do issues in a greater approach.” The primary causes for this are the effectivity advantages derived from a community that confirms its personal accuracy, and the belief that no unauthorized person has been in a position to manipulate information.
Notably, he doesn’t give central reward to generally lauded themes like decentralization [away from governments] or the perceived advantages of on-line anonymity. As an alternative, he emphasizes how blockchains can be utilized by governments to higher safe non-public data and forestall issues like identification theft.
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— ACI Studying (@ACI_Learning) August 8, 2021
With regards to “the final 100 years off, how we’ve been doing enterprise,” for Khan, blockchain is “one thing that does issues higher in 1,000 alternative ways.” On the a part of enhancing authorities processes, “the effectivity half will come up because of the change of knowledge between authorities entities — unbelievable authorities providers will occur because of that.”
Again to the Futuracy
This speak of effectivity and the longer term doesn’t come from a vacuum, as Khan runs a Toronto-based firm future-readiness enterprise referred to as Futuracy, which he describes as “an rising know-how educator” that has labored with companies and governments around the globe. The prolific writer is additionally a key determine within the Dubai GITEX know-how convention — such a key determine, that he was serving because the stage supervisor as I arrived to ship a keynote on the historical past of the blockchain motion on the occasion in mid-October. Whereas I used to be trying to the previous, his head was (and is) firmly sooner or later.
The agency creates a Future Readiness Technique for every shopper. These methods are tailor-made primarily based on the solutions to 200 questions put to the shoppers that are designed to disclose weak methods and processes which can be disrupted by advancing know-how. Relying on the dimensions of the group, minor weaknesses can have outsize impacts.
“If there’s an inefficiency in authorities, widespread individuals will undergo,” he explains, noting the necessity for future-readiness evaluation in stopping disruptions to essential features akin to medical care and schooling — each of which have been impacted by the pandemic.
Khan is additionally different phenomena that guarantees to form the way forward for his shoppers, particularly the Future of Work and Artificial Intelligence The Next Frontier, each of them additionally titles of his two upcoming movies. For him, concepts akin to digitization, the Web of Issues, blockchain and synthetic intelligence aren’t standalone improvements. As an alternative, they’re linked and it is solely a matter of time till they combine and combine to kind a completely new tomorrow for the way in which governments, firms and establishments operate.
“It’s very simple to color the image the place we are able to speak concerning the world that is powered by AI that has blockchain in it,” Khan mentions casually as if the concept is by no means terrifying. It’s about effectivity, as AI-blockchain integration will likely be “saving a number of time, vitality and energy,” and data will likely be much less prone to be stolen, based on Khan.
Ideas from the longer term
A lot of Khan’s current work has been in Dubai, a metropolis he says “is all the time attempting to do issues differently.” An early patron of the blockchain motion, “Dubai was one of many first international locations with a blockchain technique on the authorities stage,” Khan says.
Khan believes that one of the simplest ways for governments, massive firms and establishments to ease into the blockchain age is for them to supply all workers with an understanding of the know-how “whether or not they’re determination makers or not,” as a result of if a company is to outlive in a altering surroundings, it has to “change into a studying entity.”
My tackle The previous yr and Future Readiness. #futurereadiness #future #change #win #success #strategy pic.twitter.com/JpZs7bixYk
— Ian Khan Futurist (@IanKhanFuturist) August 23, 2021
The efficient method to study new paradigm-shifting applied sciences like blockchain, based on Khan, is to begin with examples of profitable technical implementation with the objective to “massively simplify the understanding of those massive large buzzwords, so that individuals can relate” to what the know-how is really able to and helpful for. In follow, this might imply investing in schooling programs — maybe starting with watching his film.
Regardless of his emphasis on studying the fundamentals, Khan concedes there is no want for everybody to have greater than a surface-level data. In spite of everything, blockchains are horribly advanced, however the way in which we work together with them could possibly be made lots less complicated. Simply as not all automotive customers want to know precisely how a combustion or electrical engine works, sooner or later it will likely be the “blockchain that is caring for issues beneath the hood,” he says.
“Everyone must be on the primary minimal stage of understanding of know-how — it doesn’t matter in the event that they don’t work in the identical division. I feel schooling of primary know-how ideas and the worth it creates is essential.”
One other approach by which organizations, particularly governments, can harness the advantages of blockchain is to open up the ideation course of by giving as a lot inventive freedom to their individuals as attainable, so as “to return up with concepts that may actually change the way in which they do issues.”
On this advantage, Khan offers particular reward to Estonia, a small European nation of just one.3 million, the place he says “there’s plenty of freedom to specific” one’s concepts to the best ranges of determination making. As a small nation with an enormous emphasis on know-how, as evidenced by the eResidency program making it simple for digital nomads to function companies from the nation, Estonia has cast a status as a digital hub.
The third approach, Khan says, is for organizations to constantly run small experiments and pilot tasks “that show a degree,” even when there is no apparent short-term profit or return on funding. As a chief instance, Khan brings up Zug, a Swiss metropolis of 30,000 which in 2016, adopted Bitcoin as an choice for paying metropolis permits. Because of the success of the experiment, Zug quickly became often called “crypto valley” as blockchain firms from around the globe opened places of work there.
Kashmir to Canada
As an alternative of being a blockchain native, Khan is future-native. “I simply love studying this stuff and understanding them and helping others perceive them,” he proclaims.
He was born on the Indian aspect of Kashmir, a area whose different half lies in Pakistan. There, Khan recollects that he turned serious about rising know-how on the age of six when he noticed a pc in school. “It was a BBC Micro hooked on to a black and white display screen that had Pac Man on, and my thoughts was fully blown,” he recollects.
He studied engineering at Kuvempu College in southern India between 1995 and 1999, acquiring a diploma in software program on the identical time. Quickly after commencement, he moved to Bahrain the place he labored in a gross sales and advertising position within the vitality trade, whereas additionally working in direction of a diploma in journalism from the London College of Journalism which he obtained in 2003. In 2007, Khan moved to Canada, the place he lives at present.
In Canada, Khan tried his hand at quite a few aspect hustles, upon which he based Agnitio Options. He tried his hand at quite a few tasks and startups over 4 years, till “I acquired into the publishing trade and began a healthcare journal,” he recollects. In his free time, he continued to review, incomes a venture administration skilled certificates from Humber School in 2009 and a certificates in public relations from the College of Toronto the next yr.
Blockchain documentary
Khan had the concept to make a documentary concerning the blockchain revolution in 2018, across the time that he attended the primary Future Blockchain Summit in Dubai, a part of the bigger GITEX know-how conference for which Khan serves as Sensible Cities Convention Chair. He noticed that, along with blockchain being extremely complicated to most individuals, “there’s a number of hype round it and there’s a number of misinformation round it,” he notes.
“The story must be informed that clarifies issues, brings some mild to the scenario and helps enterprise determination makers, governments leaders and people perceive this know-how higher”
Blockchain Metropolis – The Way forward for Cities Pushed by Blockchain tells a “story of cities around the globe and their shift in direction of being technologically powered via Blockchain.” Within the 2019 film, he interviews representatives of varied governments who communicate on the wonders of blockchain know-how and the alternatives it holds for making societal features extra environment friendly.
In line with his mantra of educating from real-life circumstances, blockchain use circumstances that have been introduced up embrace stopping over-fishing and little one trafficking. These examples of the following stage of the digitization of governance infrastructure can assist international establishments “be part of arms and take the following steps collectively.”
Whereas Blockchain Cities largely avoids cryptocurrency, he has made a separate documentary titled The Bitcoin Dilemma on that topic. It is technologically agnostic and impartial of any politics or ideology, which is recognized to permeate the cryptocurrency trade.
I just lately spoke to the BBC concerning the Worldwide Financial Funds (IMF) upcoming International Monetary stability report and its suggestions on Crypto. Additionally mentioned was my new documentary film “Bitcoin Dilemma”, El Salvador’s Bitcoin adoption, and the ou…https://t.co/lBCKK5e6vV
— Ian Khan Futurist (@IanKhanFuturist) October 1, 2021
