There is a time to trust the system and there’s a time to own your destiny.

The system gives us comfort and a sense of community. Everyone needs some kind of system they trust. We have built incredible political, religous, financial, medical and social systems in the name of progress. And along many dimensions, there has been incredible progress. These systems all work together in a complex ways and often seem random when observed on short time scales. Taking a step back we see that most systems follow some kind of cyclical pattern.

But not all is well. Our systems have given us convenience, but in some places have removed our individualism. Ironically, they have given us many individual comforts, but made us collectively weaker in some places.

Right now, from where I stand, I’m observing a collective questioning of all of our systems. While the action is not abnormal, the scale and scope of it is. People are losing trust in everything, even though it’s not immediately obvious. And as a result, we’re seeing new systems being formed, and many of them are focused on helping people own their destiny.

Whether it’s owning your data, helping people become entrepreneurs, or changing the core units of monetary value - everything is being shaken up. In 10 years, we will look to this brief period as a critical juncture in human history.