Ian Khan is a futurist who expects that blockchain, synthetic intelligence and the Web of Issues will merge collectively to create a wholly 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 movie, Blockchain Metropolis, is far from an underground manufacturing. The 42-minute movie, which is offered on Youtube and Amazon Prime, is a businessy, optimistic and considerably sanitized tackle the business. It focuses decisively on piercing the nebulous idea of “blockchain know-how” whereas largely dodging the typically controversial phenomenon of cryptocurrency, selling blockchain as an environment friendly monitoring mechanism furthering the pursuits of “the institution.”
Khan’s positioning within the business is due to this fact very a lot in distinction to the cypherpunk motion — the outdated guard of the blockchain revolution.
These authentic torchbearers of the business weren’t desirous to see the know-how used to enhance governance techniques however to avoid and successfully overthrow them by turning their outdated techniques and processes towards them. Such an imagined technological overthrow is, nonetheless, unlikely to succeed with the likes of Khan advising governments on tips on how to stop disruption by means of future readiness.
At a basic degree, Khan considers blockchain-based techniques as “a technique to do issues in a greater means.” The primary causes for this are the effectivity advantages derived from a community that confirms its personal accuracy, and the belief that no unauthorized consumer has been in a position to manipulate data.
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 a substitute, 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
On the subject of “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 — unimaginable authorities companies 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 known as Futuracy, which he describes as “an rising know-how educator” that has labored with companies and governments all over the world. The prolific writer can also be 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 consumer. These methods are tailor-made primarily based on the solutions to 200 questions put to the shoppers that are designed to disclose weak techniques and processes which can be disrupted by advancing know-how. Relying on the size of the group, minor weaknesses can have outsize impacts.
“If there’s an inefficiency in authorities, widespread folks will undergo,” he explains, noting the necessity for future-readiness evaluation in stopping disruptions to necessary capabilities corresponding to medical care and training — each of which have been impacted by the pandemic.
Khan can also be 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 corresponding to digitization, the Web of Issues, blockchain and synthetic intelligence should not standalone improvements. As a substitute, they’re related and it is just a matter of time till they mix and combine to kind a wholly new tomorrow for the best way governments, firms and establishments operate.
“It’s very simple to color the image the place we will speak in regards to the world that’s powered by AI that has blockchain in it,” Khan mentions casually as if the thought is by no means terrifying. It’s about effectivity, as AI-blockchain integration might be “saving a number of time, vitality and energy,” and knowledge might be much less more likely 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 making an attempt to do issues otherwise.” An early patron of the blockchain motion, “Dubai was one of many first nations with a blockchain technique on the authorities degree,” 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 staff with an understanding of the know-how “whether or not they’re determination makers or not,” as a result of if a corporation is to outlive in a altering setting, 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 technique to find out about 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 huge large buzzwords, so that folks can relate” to what the know-how is definitely able to and helpful for. In follow, this might imply investing in training programs — maybe starting with watching his movie.
Regardless of his emphasis on studying the fundamentals, Khan concedes there isn’t a want for everybody to have greater than a surface-level data. In any case, blockchains are horribly complicated, however the best way we work together with them may very well be made rather a lot easier. Simply as not all automobile customers want to know precisely how a combustion or electrical engine works, sooner or later will probably be the “blockchain that’s caring for issues beneath the hood,” he says.
“All people must be on the fundamental minimal degree of understanding of know-how — it doesn’t matter in the event that they don’t work in the identical division. I believe training of fundamental know-how ideas and the worth it creates is necessary.”
One other means during which organizations, particularly governments, can harness the advantages of blockchain is to open up the ideation course of by giving as a lot artistic freedom to their folks as attainable, so as “to give you concepts that may actually change the best way they do issues.”
On this advantage, Khan provides particular reward to Estonia, a small European nation of just one.3 million, the place he says “there’s a number of freedom to precise” one’s concepts to the very 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 popularity as a digital hub.
The third means, Khan says, is for organizations to constantly run small experiments and pilot tasks “that show a degree,” even when there isn’t a apparent short-term profit or return on funding. As a primary 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 known as “crypto valley” as blockchain firms from all over the world opened workplaces there.
Kashmir to Canada
As a substitute of being a blockchain native, Khan is future-native. “I simply love studying these items and understanding them and serving to others perceive them,” he proclaims.
He was born on the Indian facet of Kashmir, a area whose different half lies in Pakistan. There, Khan recollects that he turned eager about rising know-how on the age of six when he noticed a pc at college. “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 function within the vitality business, whereas additionally working in the direction of a diploma in journalism from the London Faculty of Journalism which he acquired in 2003. In 2007, Khan moved to Canada, the place he lives as we speak.
In Canada, Khan tried his hand at quite a lot of facet 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 business 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 thought to make a documentary in regards to 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 instructed that clarifies issues, brings some mild to the state of affairs 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 all over the world and their shift in the direction of being technologically powered by means of Blockchain.” Within the 2019 movie, he interviews representatives of assorted governments who communicate on the wonders of blockchain know-how and the alternatives it holds for making societal capabilities extra environment friendly.
In step with his mantra of instructing from real-life circumstances, blockchain use circumstances that had been introduced up embody stopping over-fishing and little one trafficking. These examples of the subsequent degree of the digitization of governance infrastructure will help world establishments “be a part of fingers and take the subsequent steps collectively.”
Whereas Blockchain Cities largely avoids cryptocurrency, he has made a separate documentary titled The Bitcoin Dilemma on that topic. It’s technologically agnostic and impartial of any politics or ideology, which is thought to permeate the cryptocurrency business.
I not too long ago spoke to the BBC in regards to the Worldwide Financial Funds (IMF) upcoming International Monetary stability report and its suggestions on Crypto. Additionally mentioned was my new documentary movie “Bitcoin Dilemma”, El Salvador’s Bitcoin adoption, and the ou…https://t.co/lBCKK5e6vV
— Ian Khan Futurist (@IanKhanFuturist) October 1, 2021
