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Prestidigitation! President Biden’s Energy Boom, the Sop to Cerberus, and Stein's Law

প্রেস্টিডিটেশন ! প্রেসিডেন্ট বিডেনের এনার্জি বুম, দ্য সোপ টু সার্বেরাস এবং স্টেইনের আইন

Taschenspielereien! Präsident Bidens Energieboom, die Beschwichtigung von Cerberus und Steins Gesetz

¡Prestidigitación! El auge energético del presidente Biden, la concesión a Cerberus y la ley de Stein

Prestidigitation! Le boom énergétique du président Biden, la solution à Cerberus et la loi de Stein

प्रेस्टीजिटेशन! राष्ट्रपति बिडेन की ऊर्जा उछाल, सेर्बेरस को रियायत, और स्टीन का नियम

手品！バイデン大統領のエネルギーブーム、ケルベロスへのご褒美、そしてスタインの法則

요술! 바이든 대통령의 에너지 붐, 케르베로스의 Sop, 그리고 스타인의 법칙

Prestidigitação! O boom energético do presidente Biden, o golpe para Cerberus e a lei de Stein

Престидигитация! Энергетический бум президента Байдена, подачка Церберу и закон Штейна

Prestijitasyon! Başkan Biden'ın Enerji Patlaması, Cerberus'a Sop ve Stein Yasası

Uy tín kỹ thuật số! Sự bùng nổ năng lượng của Tổng thống Biden, Sop to Cerberus và Định luật Stein

魔术！拜登总统的能源繁荣、塞伯鲁斯的贿赂和斯坦因定律

by Jeff Garzik and Ralph Benko We agree with the recently published Techno-Optimist Manifesto We agree with the recently published , hailing, among other things, the importance to civilization of energy and, thus, of good, practical energy policy. Abundant, reliable, readily affordable power is what unlocks a nation's dynamism, builds factories, creates jobs, enhances national security, and reduces poverty and famine. Techno-Optimist Manifesto A specter is now haunting those of us (including us) who believe that equitable prosperity is a great thing for people and the planet both. This specter is the shade of those who are anti-technology and anti-prosperity. Pro-prosperity goes under the rubric of e/acc, shorthand for “ .” As an aside, that might be a coinage derived from “ .” The latter had its day, although now is tarnished by the spectacular fall of its most enthusiastic and flamboyant promoter, . effective accelerationism effective altruism Sam Bankman-Fried The opponents of tech, and of its attendant general prosperity, have been dubbed the “decels.” Possibly a sly allusion to “incels.” e/acc also goes by the term “techno-optimism.” Many prominent center-leftists are at least as enthusiastic about the promise of technology to improve the lives of people and the planet as are the card-carrying members of the vast right-wing conspiracy. Techno-optimists tend to lean libertarian, whether left or right. Prominent among the leading proponents are masters of the universe , , , (with stated reservations about AI), and . Also notable are economist, blogger, and journalist ( ), public intellectual Peter Zeihan, who refers to the process of deindustrialization now underway as “decivilization,” and , who presents at a16z with exceptional clarity on matters such as . Marc Andreessen Ben Horowitz Bill Gates Vitalik Buterin Peter Thiel Noah Smith an incisive self-professed political southpaw Ryan McEntush how to scale nuclear power The villains in this drama are those who committed to “degrowth,” or shrinking the economy, perhaps by the “spectre of degrowth communism” of “Kohei Saito, the rising star of contemporary Marxist thought….” best exemplified Marxists Never Cease To Delight in Spectral Haunting Marxists just never cease to delight in spectral haunting. Some people just have to learn the hard way. We’ve written about the tussle between us techno-optimists and the luddites at ; ; at ; and at . Let’s up the ante. Toward a Pragmatic American Energy Policy To Build or Not to Build Washington? Just Face Facts Yankee Ingenuity The sweet spot of Washington Power and Light, our policy institute, is good energy policy, the foundation of equitable prosperity. In that, we are not alone. Marc Andreessen recently, in his . wrote: The Techno-Optimist Manifesto “Energy is life. We take it for granted, but without it, we have darkness, starvation, and pain. With it, we have light, safety, and warmth. We believe energy in an upward spiral. Energy is the foundational engine of our civilization. … We believe we should place intelligence and energy in a positive feedback loop, and drive them both to infinity. We believe we should use the feedback loop of intelligence and energy to make everything we want and need abundant.” should be And as Noah Smith observes in : Don’t be a Decel “Energy technology is arguably the most important kind of technology that humans create, since everything else we do is downstream of our ability to harness energy.” It isn’t very romantic of us, but … our mission is to encourage policy based on real-world data to produce great results, rather than relying on faith-based dreams we call “hopium.” We consider ourselves proud pragmatists. Pretty much everyone, including the innumerate, has heard of Einstein’s E = mc2, energy equals mass times the speed of light squared. the world’s most famous equation. PBS calls it While it is profound to prove that energy and matter are interchangeable, in day-to-day terms it’s not the most important equation around. We nominate, instead, e2/acc: effective energy accelerationism. Capitalism’s monster Those advocating economic “shrinkage” (to steal ) are an odd lot. Consider the frailty of the romantics, like Saito. He was critiqued by Thomas Fazi at , as “capitalism’s monster.” a phrase from Seinfeld Unherd To wit: “It is no coincidence that Saito comes from Japan, which enjoys one of the highest standards of living in the world. But for most people on the planet, especially those living in poorer countries, climate change among the lowest policy priorities — well below more pressing material concerns such as hunger and poverty, access to water and sanitation, and education. systematically ranks “To the billions of people who still live in extreme poverty, and the millions who don’t even have access to electricity, Saito’s vision of degrowth communism, and his plea to scale back production and consumption, is unlikely to be very appealing. In fact, Saito’s insistence that countries in the Global South should refrain from pursuing growth — even ‘green growth’ — might very well be seen as a form of Western eco-imperialism. … “In this sense, degrowth communism suffers from the same drawback of old-school communism: it’s an intrinsically universalist worldview, one that purports to offer a one-size-fits-all solution for all human societies, regardless of local cultural and civilisational specificities. This globalist outlook is typical of post-Nineties leftism, which Saito harks back to in several respects. This is also evident in his rejection of the nation-state, viewed as a reactionary, quasi-fascist construct, rather than the framework through which virtually all the major social, economic and political advancements of the past centuries were achieved. “It’s a view that is completely at odds with global realities. Capitalism’s monster? At odds with reality? Yeah, that’s our poster child villain, all right! Curtis Yarvin: the greatest living Hobbesian philosopher, formidable poet, and classic antihero, declares Trotsky at Burning Man Among others in the techno-pessimistic camp is the always interesting contrarian Curtis Yarvin – the greatest living Hobbesian philosopher and poet, a classic antihero rather than villain, and possibly simply being arch – recently published “ .” Therein, he wrote: a techno-pessimist manifesto “Where did this ideology come from? While the connection is obviously a coincidence, techno-optimism is a curious historical match for another deeply American ideology from the 20th century: Trotskyism. “In (1924), Trotsky wrote: Literature and Revolution “Through the machine, man in Socialist society will command nature in its entirety, with its grouse and its sturgeons. He will change the course of the rivers, and he will lay down rules for the oceans. This does not mean that the entire globe will be marked off into boxes, that the forests will be turned into parks and gardens. Thickets and forests and grouse and tigers will remain, but only where man commands them to remain. And man will do it so well that the tiger won’t even notice the machine, or feel the change, but will live as he lived in primeval times. The machine is not in opposition to the earth. The machine is the instrument of modern man in every field of life… “Man, who will learn how to move rivers and mountains, how to build people’s palaces on the peaks of the Mont Blanc and at the bottom of the Atlantic, will not only be able to add to his own life richness, brilliancy and intensity, but also a dynamic quality of the highest degree. The shell of life will hardly have time to form before it will burst open again under the pressure of new technical and cultural inventions and achievements. Life in the future will not be monotonous! “Narrator: nor was it. “More than that. Man at last will begin to harmonize himself in earnest. He will make it his business to achieve beauty by giving the movement of his own limbs the utmost precision, purposefulness and economy in his work, his walk and his play. He will try to master first the semiconscious and then the subconscious processes in his own organism, such as breathing, the circulation of the blood, digestion, reproduction, and, within necessary limits, he will try to subordinate them to the control of reason and will. Even purely physiologic life will become subject to collective experiments. The human species, the coagulated Homo sapiens, will once more enter into a state of radical transformation, and, in his own hands, will become an object of the most complicated methods of artificial selection and psycho-physical training. “One can easily see Trotsky at Burning Man…. “Here again the ‘scientists, technologists, artists, and visionaries beyond our wildest dreams.’ Was Trotsky the first ‘effective accelerationist?’ Life takes you funny places.” “Life takes you funny places.” True! Washington Power and Light Last year, we constituted a new, tech-savvy think tank in Metro DC, Washington Power and Light, to advocate for, to quote Bastiat (see below), a “real, serious and pragmatic” energy policy, a policy rooted in technological reality rather than “pretty to think so” romantic dreams. Thus, we heartily welcome a recent big reveal at Ben Horowitz’s blog, “ ,” that a16z has desired to engage politically, seriously, to conduct a savvy “revenge of the nerds” political crusade to make the pro-techno worldview stick: Politics and the Future “We believe that advancing technology is critical for humanity’s future, so we will, for the first time, get involved with politics by supporting candidates who align with our vision and values specifically for technology. “While “Big Tech” is well represented in Washington D.C., their interests are often at odds with a positive technological future as they are more interested in regulatory capture and preserving their monopolies. As a result, technology startups need a voice. “We are non-partisan, one issue voters: If a candidate supports an optimistic technology-enabled future, we are for them. If they want to choke off important technologies, we are against them.” Badly needed! Politicians have mostly taken their eye off the ball and turned Congress mostly into a slapstick pie-fight over mostly trivial matters. Consider the daily political news. Much of it covers the struggle between the Democrats (the Donks) and the GOP (Pachyderms, thank you, Thomas Nast!). And, implicit therein, the forever war between the left and right. And much of the news now is devoted to the internecine intraparty struggles, such as within the administration, between the privileged progressives and the rank-and-file workers of the labor-and-ethnic left. And the marquee battles between the MAGAs (“the Chaos Caucus”) and the Regular Republicans in the House. “A full phase-out of fossil fuels would take the world back into caves.” Meanwhile, note the recently convened and concluded CAP28, whose presiding officer rocked the world by observing candidly, as reported by : Reason “ Al Jaber also that a full phase-out of fossil fuels would ‘take the world back into caves.’ Into the caves we go: said Some scientists and activists have not welcomed Al Jaber's blunt realism, but have said his are ‘verging on climate denial.’ comments “To be sure, Al Jaber has been properly criticized for a possible conflict of interest, as he is also the CEO of the Emirati state-owned oil and gas company, ADNOC. But he's correct to weigh tradeoffs and to point to the fact that world leaders need a more concrete plan, since toothless U.N. agreements don't really cut it.” “What Is Seen and What is Not Seen” We confidently submit that, in the spirit of Bastiat’s final work, – “What Is Seen and What Is Not Seen” – that which is invisible is often more consequential than what is visible. CE QUON VOIT ET CE QUON NE VOIT PAS And the previously almost invisible war between the techno-optimists (“the squares”) and the techno-pessimists (“the hippies”) is, we believe, the truly important political, social, and cultural battle now going on. As the fox confided to the , “And now here is my secret, a very simple secret: It is only with the heart that one can see rightly; what is essential is invisible to the eye.” Thus, let us look with our hearts. Little Prince Why is the war between the techno-optimists and the techno-pessimists of existential importance? Bastiat, courtesy of : Mises.org In the department of economy, an act, a habit, an institution, a law, gives birth not only to an effect, but to a series of effects. Of these effects, the first only is immediate; it manifests itself simultaneously with its cause — . The others unfold in succession — : it is well for us if they are . Between a good and a bad economist this constitutes the whole difference — the one takes account of the effect; the other takes account both of the effects which are and also of those which it is necessary to . Now this difference is enormous, for it almost always happens that when the immediate consequence is favorable, the ultimate consequences are fatal, . Hence it follows that the bad economist pursues a small present good, which will be followed by a great evil to come, while the true economist pursues a great good to come, at the risk of a small present evil. it is seen they are not seen foreseen visible seen foresee and the converse “In fact, it is the same in the science of health, arts, and in that of morals. If often happens, that the sweeter the first fruit of a habit is, the more bitter are the consequences. Take, for example, debauchery, idleness, prodigality. When, therefore, a man, absorbed in the effect which , has not yet learned to discern those which are not seen, he gives way to fatal habits, not only by inclination, but by calculation. is seen “This explains the fatally grievous condition of mankind. Ignorance surrounds its cradle: then its actions are determined by their first consequences, the only ones which, in its first stage, it can see. It is only in the long run that it learns to take account of the others. It has to learn this lesson from two very different masters — experience and foresight. Experience teaches effectually, but brutally. It makes us acquainted with all the effects of an action, by causing us to feel them; and we cannot fail to finish by knowing that fire burns, if we have burned ourselves. For this rough teacher, I should like, if possible, to substitute a more gentle one. I mean Foresight. For this purpose I shall examine the consequences of certain economical phenomena, by placing in opposition to each other those , and those .” which are seen which are not seen The struggle over tech is crucial because it is, at base, a struggle between prosperity and austerity. Prosperity affords us agency. Poverty is a vice, not a virtue. The Soviet bloc, exponentially poorer than the capitalist running dogs of the West, experienced far worse environmental degradation than did the capitalist world. It is better that we fight over what to do with our discretionary income than scrap for subsistence. Shall we use our surplus wealth to clean up our rivers and air? Plant forests? Invent new tech? Buy more aircraft carriers? Pay down the national debt? These are much worthier fights to have than those available while struggling for survival in a condition of great scarcity. Sorry, Luddites. Few indeed wish to return to the caves. Bad policy.  Bad politics. As Churchill, on the floor of the House of Commons, , ‘The inherent vice of capitalism is the unequal sharing of blessings. The inherent virtue of Socialism is the equal sharing of miseries.’ observed Misery loves company. That said, misery makes for bad policy. So, let’s accelerate our technology and, with it, our prosperity. Then… watch the Congress. Those fights will be merry indeed but much more productive than what we are now witnessing. Bravo to the : “We believe we should place intelligence and energy in a positive feedback loop and drive them both to infinity. We believe we should use the feedback loop of intelligence and energy to make everything we want and need abundant.” Techno-Optimist Manifesto To remain great or regain greatness, America can and must have abundant, reliable, readily affordable energy from practical, reality-driven sources. Abundant, reliable, affordable power unlocks a nation's dynamism, builds factories, creates jobs, enhances national security, and reduces poverty and famine. Accept no substitutes. Jeff Garzik serves as the founder and chairman of the policy institute Washington Power and Light.  Before co-founding Bloq, he spent five years as a Bitcoin core developer and ten years at Red Hat. His work with the Linux kernel is now found in every Android phone and data center running Linux today. Ralph Benko serves as co-founder and general counsel to Washington Power and Light. He is also the co-founder and general counsel for F1R3FLY.io and has worked in or with 3 White Houses, two executive branch agencies, and the Congress, as well as many political and policy institutes. He is an award-winning columnist.

“What is Essential is Invisible;” Enter Energy/Acceleration

To Build, or Not to Build, That is the Question: Techno-Optimism vs. Decelerationism

নির্মাণ করা, না নির্মাণ করা, এটাই প্রশ্ন: টেকনো-অপটিমিজম বনাম মন্থরতাবাদ

Bauen oder nicht bauen, das ist die Frage: Technooptimismus vs. Entschleunigungismus

Construir o no construir, esa es la cuestión: tecnooptimismo versus desaceleracionismo

Construire ou ne pas construire, telle est la question : techno-optimisme contre décélérationnisme

निर्माण करें, या न करें, यही प्रश्न है: तकनीकी-आशावाद बनाम मंदीवाद

構築すべきか、構築すべきでないか、それが問題です: テクノオプティミズム vs. 減速主義

건설하느냐, 건설하지 않느냐, 그것이 문제이다: 기술 낙관주의 vs. 감속주의

Construir ou não construir, eis a questão: Tecno-otimismo vs.

Строить или не строить, вот в чем вопрос: технооптимизм против деселерационизма

İnşa Etmek ya da İnşa Etmemek Sorun Bu: Tekno-İyimserlik ve Yavaşlamacılık

Xây dựng hay không xây dựng, đó là câu hỏi: Lạc quan về công nghệ và chủ nghĩa giảm tốc

建设还是不建设，这就是问题：技术乐观主义与减速主义

by Jeff Garzik and Ralph Benko Humorist Robert Benchley (in his , a little over a century ago, panning the New York City telephone directory (those young readers who don't know what a telephone directory was hereby are ) once wrote: Vanity Fair book review directed here "There may be said to be two classes of people in the world; those who constantly divide the people of the world into two classes, and those who do not." Irony aside, Benchley was on to something. That said, our railroad gauge is (and, hence, the dimensions of the Space Shuttle was) determined by the wheel ruts carved into the mud roads of Roman empire war chariots in Britain. Similarly, our minds often are stuck in archaic patterns. Curable! The "two classes" that dominate our modern mindset, the rivalry between conservatives and progressives, is growing obsolete. Once upon a time, way back in the Cold War, when good old American "liberty and justice for all" was confronting the monstrosity of world communism… left vs right was a useful and maybe compelling way to sort the world. That was then. This is now. Now, there are new rules of political warfare that define the presenting challenges. We propose that the most consequential divide is between technophiles, lovers of technology, and technophobes, those fearful of technology. Technophilia isn't about gizmos. It's about human and planetary welfare. That said, there's some confusion. Fortunately, here we are to dispel confusion with facts. There is a prevalent myth in the culture. It holds that the tech-skeptical Hippies are pro-nature, pro-ecology and more environmentally nobler. This fairy tale's apotheosis is probably Thoreau's . Walden That prevailing myth also holds that those of us who embrace technology trend negligent toward the environment. Pastoral romanticism has a deep pedigree, about which the , "Many of the idylls written in its name are far remote from the realities of any life, rustic or urban." Washington Power & Light believes the evidence is irrefutable that more and better tech leads, reliably, to a cleaner, more pristine, environment. As noted at , Britannica observes dryly HumanProgress.org "The (EPI) is a joint project of the Yale Center for Environmental Policy and Law and the Center for International Earth Science Information Network at Columbia University. The index has been a leading resource on accessing environmental protection in individual countries for over 20 years. Environmental Performance Index "The latest 2020 edition ranks 180 countries based on metrics, such as air quality, ecosystem vitality, environmental health, drinking water, CO2 emissions, etc. However, what stands out about the 2020 edition is its conclusion: "Good policy results are associated with wealth (GDP per capita), meaning that economic prosperity makes it possible for nations to invest in policies and programs that lead to desirable outcomes. This trend is especially true for issue categories under the umbrella of environmental health, as building the necessary infrastructure to provide clean drinking water and sanitation, reduce ambient air pollution, control hazardous waste, and respond to public health crises yields large returns for human well-being." So… the true argument isn't one between the noble, ecologically conscious, Hippies and the vile, polluting, scientists and engineers. We both, in fact, tend to hold the environment with great respect. The real argument is over the best means to achieve both the humanitarian and environmental goods to which both Hippies and Squares aspire. Furthermore, this is no longer (if ever it was) a struggle between the left and the right. The left offers at least as much thought leadership on using technology to better both the human condition and planetary environment as does the right. As Eric Levitz wrote for New York Magazine's : Intelligencer "Ezra Klein, Matthew Yglesias, and other commentators have called for liberalism [meaning leftism] to reorient its priorities in light of its present challenges. They argue that we need a new "supply-side liberalism" or a "liberalism that builds," which would prioritize rapid decarbonization and housing abundance over other goals. In practice, this means scaling back regulatory obstacles to energy development that some environmental groups value and restricting the capacity of localities or self-appointed community representatives to override the will of democratically accountable officials." The litany of public intellectuals who are techno-optimists is long and eclectic, culminating recently in a compelling presentation of the case for tech in the center-left New York Times. There, per a recent notice by Peter Coy (agreeing, in part, disagreeing in part) of the recent book Superabundance, " ": An Economic Case Against Environmental Doomsayers "As long as there have been doomsayers, there have been their opposites, who are sometimes called cornucopians. Among other predecessors, the authors cited (I'm alphabetizing) Angus Deaton, Peter Diamandis, Gregg Easterbrook, Andrew McAfee, Deirdre McCloskey, Johan Norberg, Steven Pinker, Matt Ridley, Paul Romer, Hans Rosling, Anna Rosling Ronnlund and Michael Shellenberger. "What makes "Superabundance" more than a reiteration of cornucopian optimism is the tables and charts the authors have put together showing exactly how much better life has gotten because of technological progress and trade." So, we submit that the authentic argument is one between those who believe that the environment, as well as human welfare, can best (and not so incidentally, in a politically sustainable fashion) be served by technological innovation. Not by making the economic pie of affordable goods and services smaller. Tech is just a fancy word for tools. Better tools provide, among other things, less pollution. As well documented, among other places, in and its associated site , we now use far less in the way of natural resources to get our goods, thereby producing far less waste. Thus, more people can afford, and have, devices that provide the necessities, amenities, and even luxuries of modern life. Superabundance HumanProgress.org These provide the middle class of America with a far better standard of living than even royalty enjoyed throughout most of history. And there is no evidence that most people, here and abroad, are willing to surrender these for the privilege of going back to the stone age. Tech also leads both toward more equitable prosperity -  providing us the means to climb , rising from the bare necessities for survival, to security, up to sociability, dignity and respect, to self-actualization, higher categories embracing the demand for a cleaner and cleaner environment. Maslow's hierarchy of needs Doubt it? , aggregate pollution emissions of six common pollutants have dropped, in the US, by 71% since 1980 while our GDP grew 182%, the population has grown by 44% and energy consumption has increased by 28%. Per the EPA Politics is a competitive sport. As such it intrinsically requires an "us" vs. "them." At its hard core, the fight now is between the technophiles ("us") and decels ("them"). In watching, or making, the political and policy news let's have a clear idea of what the fight is really about so we don't fall into as "Das is nicht einmal falsch" "not even wrong," meaning so far afield as to be irrelevant. So, what's it all about? Wolfgang Pauli's indictment of a young physicist's paper The 200 proof version is now being fought out in obscure corners of the Internet under the exotic names of " " vs. the " Effective Acclerationism  -  in jargon “e/acc” -  is defined at : effective accelerationism "decels," or decelerationists. Substack "This isn't faith or simplistic optimism. At the core of e/acc is a set of conclusions about the world drawn from the physics behind life itself, and the path forward it lays out is as clear as it is compelling. All there is left to do is pitch in and help. All there is left to do is build. "In more practical terms, e/acc is about how and why we will all flourish in the world we are building right now. In a world of where we are fed a constant stream of reasons to be hopeless, e/acc is a reason to be hopeful in this very moment. That, more than anything else, is why e/acc is the nexus of so much energy, and why I hope you will be excited about it, too." And for a sharp word for the decels, consider columnist and blogger Noah Smith's admonition, " " Don't be a decel. "Decel" is a derogatory slang word used by the . It's short for "decelerationist", meaning someone who wants to slow down technological progress. Most decels probably wouldn't explicitly think of themselves this way, but their attitudes and beliefs end up working in that direction. e/acc community … "Hopefully the decel trend will wane if and when it becomes apparent that unrest in America has . But in the early 2020s, it's still going strong, and it's something we need to remember to push against. Eras of division and unrest are the exact time when it's most important to remind ourselves that over the broad sweep of history, technology is what allows us to live in material comfort, free of disease and other natural threats. It is a force to be harnessed, not fought. And yet progress is never inevitable or automatic; it depends on a favorable institutional context. It depends on government science funding, on private capital, on big business and small business, and very often on public-private partnerships. passed its peak "And most of all, it depends on a populace that believes that increasing humanity's power over our world will make tomorrow better than today. The more that hope in our technological future is able to transcend partisan cleavages, online subcultures, and mass ennui, the faster we will move on to the next, better chapter in our history. "Accelerate." Washington Power and Light, at base, is here to repudiate dogma. As that notorious precursor to the Tea Party, provocateur Saul Alinsky, wrote in , Rules for Radicals "I detest and fear dogma. I know that all revolutions must have ideologies to spur them on. That in the heat of conflict these ideologies tend to be smelted into rigid dogmas claiming exclusive possession of the truth, and the keys to paradise, is tragic. "Dogma is the enemy of human freedom. Dogma must be watched for and apprehended at every turn and twist of the revolutionary movement." We demand that our policy makers and thought leaders supplant dogma with facts. Instead of dogmatism, we preach empiricism. Not so long ago it used to be aptly called " " It's the exaltation of reason. And it works imperfectly but very effectively. the Enlightenment. The evidence is overwhelming that to improve the standard of living of people while improving the quality of the environment we must abjure "hopium" -  sentimentality, fantasy and virtue signaling  -  and build policy from those stubborn things called facts. Facts are the only consistently reliable guide to adopting policies that are proven, in the laboratory of history, to actually work to improve our lot. Science and engineering, not politics, are the proven source, for instance, of reliable, abundant, and environmentally friendly energy with which to uplift both humanity and the world's ecological goodness. So, we are doing our level best to help the capital lift its mind out of dogma, the metaphysical equivalent of the wheel ruts carved into the mud roads of Roman empire war chariots in Britain. Washington? Just face facts! In the wise words of Noah Smith: "over the broad sweep of history, technology is what allows us to live in material comfort, free of disease and other natural threats. It is a force to be harnessed, not fought." Accelerate! About the authors Jeff Garzik serves as the founder and chairman of the policy institute Washington Power and Light. Before co-founding Bloq, he spent five years as a Bitcoin core developer and ten years at Red Hat. His work with the Linux kernel is now found in every Android phone and data center running Linux today. Ralph Benko serves as co-founder and general counsel to Washington Power and Light. He is the co-founder and general counsel for and has worked in or with 3 White Houses, two executive branch agencies, and the Congress as well as many political and policy institutes. He is a multi-award-winning writer. F1R3FLY.io

Washington? Just Face Facts!

ওয়াশিংটন? জাস্ট ফেস ফ্যাক্টস!

Washington? Seien Sie einfach den Tatsachen ins Auge!

¿Washington? ¡Solo enfrenta los hechos!

Washington? Faites simplement face aux faits !

वाशिंगटन? बस तथ्यों का सामना करें!

ワシントン？事実だけを直視しましょう！

워싱턴? 그냥 사실을 직면!

Washington? Apenas encare os fatos!

Вашингтон? Просто признайте факты!

Washington mı? Sadece Gerçeklerle Yüzleşin!

Washington? Chỉ cần đối mặt với sự thật!

华盛顿？只是面对事实！

End Ethanol Subsidies Now!

Yankee Ingenuity

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The healthcare sector faces numerous issues when it comes to data storage, sharing, and verification. Patient data exists in isolated silos and doctors cannot access it when needed, while hackers seem to be able to take advantage with relative ease. Patients don’t feel like they own their health information. Counterfeit drugs are flooding the market as no one can verify their origins. Are traditional data management practices becoming obsolete? Even though blockchain technology has emerged in the financial sector, blockchain use cases in healthcare are gaining traction, too. The global medical blockchain market is , rising at a CAGR of 35% from 2021. Hospitals and other medical facilities are tapping into to enhance their data-related practices. expected to reach $55.83 billion by 2026 blockchain development services So, how blockchain works in healthcare? And which challenges could you expect while implementing the technology in the medical sector? What is Blockchain, and How Does it Benefit Healthcare? Blockchain is a decentralized distributed system that generates and stores data. When one device on a blockchain performs a transaction, all other devices generate identical blocks reflecting this action. Similarly, when blockchain data is manipulated in any way, a block is created to record this information so that any change can be easily verified and tracked back to its source. You can learn more about on our blog. blockchain and its applications in a dedicated article How can blockchain be used in healthcare? This technology incorporates advanced cryptography mechanisms to enhance data security. With blockchain’s permission system, it gives data ownership back to the individuals, and with its transparency, it facilitates clinical trials by documenting and time stamping all the details. Furthermore, it offers unique contract management and payment capabilities. Advantages of Blockchain in Healthcare Here are the main benefits blockchain technology brings to different healthcare actors: Blockchain for healthcare organizations: Improves decision-making as blockchain allows several doctors from different locations to view the same data in real-time. Transforms patient medical records to a decentralized system that can’t be tampered with Speeds up medical credentialing Blockchain for Patients: Empowers patients to assume ownership of their medical data Supports consent mechanisms prohibiting healthcare providers from accessing information without patient permission Enables patients to participate in research and otherwise monetize their data without intermediaries Collects and stores data from wearable devices in a secure manner Blockchain for Pharmaceutics: Helps to recruit participants for clinical trials Supports reliable and auditable documentation of clinical trials with its immutable records Allows spotting counterfeit drugs Blockchain for Insurance: Speeds up confirmation obtaining process Unlocks the opportunity for insurers to draft and manage agreements using smart contracts Cuts down costs by eliminating intermediaries Disadvantages of Blockchain in Healthcare: There are several disadvantages to adopting blockchain in healthcare stemming from the nature of this technology: As the number of blocks grows, the transaction time increases, causing delays. Inability to permanently delete records. The network simply creates more blocks that reflect the invalidation of existing records. For this technology to function, every involved organization needs to be on board with it. Potential problems with large patient files, such as MRI scans. High planning, developing, and maintenance costs Blockchain in Healthcare: Use Cases Here are seven of the most prominent blockchain technology applications in healthcare: Transparent supply chain Faster medical credentialing Patient-centered EHRs Manageable medical trials Enhanced security Commitments enforced via smart contracts Genomic research Blockchain Increases Healthcare Supply Chain Transparency Counterfeit drugs are a persistent problem. The World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that in developed countries are not legitimate. This number increases in the developing countries to reach almost 10%. Proving this point, the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) . The agency reports this number is higher than it was in two previous years combined. up to 1% of all medications available for purchase captured over 9.5 million fake medications in the US in 2021 One of blockchain’s use cases in healthcare is that it allows customers to track the products at every stage, including manufacturing, wholesale, and shipping to make sure the items are legitimate. This is crucial for both drugs and medical devices. Once a ledger is created for a drug, it records the point of origin, a laboratory for example. Since then, every manipulation on this drug is documented. Blockchain can incorporate rather extensive information, such as labor costs and how much waste was emitted during manufacturing and transportation. is an example of a blockchain protocol that healthcare organizations can use to verify information on prescription drugs’ supply chain. This includes expiration dates, manufacturers, etc. MediLedger also allows different parties to exchange secure peer-to-peer messages. Many prominent healthcare providers, such as Bayer, Pfizer, and Cardinal Health use this network. MediLedger In another example, Paris-based Blockpharma built a solution that scans medications’ supply chain and verifies it across all points of shipment. The company’s app allows patients to verify the legitimacy of their purchase. Blockpharma worldwide. is believed to intercept 15% of counterfeit drugs Blockchain Speeds up Medical Credentialing Verifying credentials – training, skills, medical licenses, and education – is a tedious process that is typically performed via phone and email and can take up to four and even six months to complete. The Council for Affordable Quality Healthcare reports that payers to maintain a comprehensive healthcare provider database. Blockchain technology can offer a faster and more reliable substitute that doesn’t rely on direct human references. spend almost $2 billion per year Blockchain allows healthcare organizations to log and monitor the credentials of their staff. This arrangement streamlines the hiring process and improves transparency and trust between subcontractors, hospitals, and patients. Additionally, blockchain records allow incremental updates when professionals need to add qualifications. is a healthcare credentialing startup founded by two physicians. It uses blockchain to verify primary source credentialing documents with the aim to reduce time on new hires’ background check. Carilion Clinic tested ArchiveCore software against their typical hiring process for 17 staff members and was amazed to discover that . ArchiveCore they could have saved $1.2 million in lost revenue Blockchain Enables Patient-Centric EHRs Sharing medical data is a sensitive and highly-regulated task. A survey conducted among physicians and nurses in the US that patients’ safety is at risk when exchanging their health information among different departments. reveals that 74% of the respondents believe One of the most popular blockchain use cases in healthcare is to offer a comprehensive overview of patients’ records and manage data sharing consent. Such systems give patients full control over their records – they are notified when their data is updated, and they can share full or partial records with doctors, researchers, and other parties. Patients can even set a time limit on how long their records are visible to a particular third party. Insurers can use this system to validate confirmations with patients directly, without intermediaries. One application of the technology comes from . This company helps healthcare providers integrate their electronic medical records with a blockchain-powered platform. MedicalChain software can be used to develop other healthcare solutions, such as virtual consultations and marketplaces that enable patients to monetize their anonymized medical data. MedicalChain Blockchain Facilitates Clinical Trials ClinicalTrials.gov reveals that drug development . Clinical trials produce large amounts of data and involve many people, such as sponsors, study subjects, doctors, researchers, drug manufacturers, etc. Hence, mistakes can occur easily and there is room for intentional falsification. Finding and recruiting participants is another issue. A recent report shows that participated in clinical trials. Also, trails’ information is typically stored in centralized databases, making it challenging to share among all stakeholders. costs around $350 billion globally per year only 8% of cancer patients Another blockchain use case in healthcare is to make clinical trials more transparent, allowing researchers to identify studies with questionable protocols and prevent their publication. With this technology, all clinical trial documents can be time-stamped and securely stored. Blockchain records include project proposals, surveys, research design, blood tests, patient consent forms, etc. Moreover, this technology allows participants in dispersed geographical locations to view the data simultaneously in real-time, which is crucial for trial decision-making. Additionally, blockchain can help manage clinical trials’ finances. For example, the German pharma company Boehringer Ingelheim teamed up with IBM to implement a blockchain-based bookkeeping system for its trials. Delayed payment of trials’ participants is another issue. It typically takes several months for those people to receive income. Bloqcube specializes in blockchain-powered clinical trial software and it believes that working with central bank digital currencies can significantly speed up the payment process, allowing doctors and patients to receive compensation a few minutes after performing a task. Blockchain Enhances Security Health data is mostly stored on centralized databases which cannot offer adequate protection against theft and breaches. According to HIPAA Journal, a total of across 686 healthcare data breaches. 44,993,618 medical records were compromised in 2021 Blockchain can facilitate secure health data storage and sharing. For example, , headquartered in California, operates as network-as-a-service and uses blockchain to offer a set of policies, configure data layers, and verify health data source and destination in real time. Akiri Blockchain also supports encryption. If healthcare providers want to access patient information, they will need the corresponding public key. Research shows that the protected health information (PHI) residing on their workstations. , a major US-based test and vaccine verification platform resorts to blockchain to encrypt its data and further anonymizes it. 63% of healthcare organizations fail to encrypt Testd Another security-related use case of blockchain in healthcare is supporting wearable medical devices. This technology facilitates recording and safe transmission of IoT data from devices to healthcare providers. It can protect the data from unauthorized tampering, block access to certain devices, and shut down compromised nodes. Blockchain Enforces Commitments VIA Smart Contracts Contract-related disputes and failure to honor contract terms is a problem in every industry. Research shows that in the medical sector, while due to reasons such as incomplete information, duplicate claims, improper registration, etc. 10% of insurance claims are disputed 17% of claims are being denied Smart contracts can offer a solution to these daunting problems. A smart contract is a piece of code deployed on a blockchain. It is set to be executed automatically when predefined conditions are met. Smart contracts help the medical sector to cut down on costs by eliminating intermediaries. This technology enables different healthcare actors, such as providers, patients, insurers, and medical device manufacturers. to authenticate themselves on the network and document contract clauses, which will be carried out automatically and will remain visible to all parties involved. For example, when a patient visits a doctor, this event will be reflected in the blockchain ledger, and the insurer will be notified. Stakeholders can turn to smart contracts to verify facts and speed up dispute resolutions. Curisium, , developed a blockchain-powered platform that supports contract management and negotiation in the healthcare sector. It allows providers and payers to participate in innovative secure contracting arrangements and find common grounds in case of a dispute. recently acquired by Philadelphia-based HealthVerity Blockchain Enables Genomic Research The costs of genomic sequencing sharply decreased nowadays, with some companies . This encourages scientists to engage in genome-related research. But where to find willing participants? And how to provide secure storage for such massive datasets? from $10,000 a few years ago to $1,000 claiming to perform this task for solely $100 Here is another blockchain use case in healthcare. This technology allows participants to store billions of genome data points, exchange them securely between interested parties, and establish ownership. The technology also supports individuals in legally monetizing their genomic information without involving intermediaries. For example, offers a blockchain-enabled DNA marketplace where participants can upload, share, search, and sell genetic data using traceable DNA tokens. EncrypGen In another instance, the Israeli biotech company demploys blockchain to facilitate genomic data exchange between data owners and researchers by using DNAtix tokens as means of payment. The company takes pride in fully anonymizing payments and contracts. DNAtix Here is what the company’s CEO, , “We are bringing a new possibility of participating in research, testing your DNA, storing your DNA, and staying anonymous. It’s the safest genetics on the planet that will be available.” Ofer Lidsky says Challenges of Blockchain in Healthcare : blockchain stores and maintains highly sensitive and regulated patient data on a network that is designed to be transparent. Healthcare organizations need to make sure they are compliant, and the risk of data exposure is minimized. Compliance with HIPAA and other data privacy regulations : medical facilities will need to evaluate the possibilities of storing enormous amounts of data without compromising heavily on the performance. Large volumes of healthcare data : we can’t maximize blockchain security, scalability, and decentralization simultaneously. One of those parameters is improved at the expense of the others. For example, if blockchain is scaled in a way that its payment system is adopted globally, the security of handling those transactions is likely to be compromised. Researchers are looking for solutions, but at the moment, this remains a relevant concern. Finding the right balance : another challenge of blockchain in healthcare is that data access is based on permissions. But what to do if a patient physically can’t give explicit consent in case of emergency? Organizations will have to come up with protocols on how to operate in this and similar situations. Access authorization : blockchain uses cryptography to secure its data. Hence, there is an issue of key management. Using the same public key for all blocks implies that all the data would be exposed if the key is compromised. On the other hand, using a different key for each block will drastically increase the costs of storing and accessing data. Private and public keys How to Proceed With Implementing Blockchain in Healthcare? As Stuart Hanson, CEO of Avaneer Health, pointed out during his interview with Healthcare IT News, blockchain is not a standalone technology that medical facilities can just plug in and solve all their issues. It is not a platform that can be added to an existing tech stack. If your organization wants to be effective in its blockchain adoption, you might need to adapt your internal processes, expand tech stacks, and help your employees and partners to shift their mindset towards a new operating mode. Moreover, organizations that want to benefit from blockchain use cases in healthcare to their full extent, will need to work together and team up with their competitors. For example, IBM and banking institutions that naturally compete against each other, such as Sentara Healthcare, Cleveland Clinic, and Aetna among others. The goal of this cooperation was to establish a governance framework that will monitor a blockchain-powered healthcare network. collaborated with healthcare organizations If you are interested in starting with blockchain implementation in the healthcare sector, it is best to consult professional . Even though deploying this technology seems complicated, with the right support, your medical facility will be able to reduce costs, improve patient care, and increase data security and transparency. healthcare software development companies Do you want to enhance your data and contract management practices with blockchain technology? ! Our healthcare experts will set you up with an existing blockchain platform and assist you with customized smart contract development. Drop ITRex a line Co-published . here

What is the Advantage of Using Blockchain Tech in Healthcare?

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