Distributed Ledger Technologies and Social Machines: How to “Smartify” the Economy with Blockchain-based Digital Extension Services?

Abstract

What are now called “social machines” have been around for decades as part of a computer-driven wave of digitalization that has taken over developed societies around the world, including but not limited to the invention of the Internet. People and machines are becoming increasingly integrated through computing power, data processing and storage, information management, and Artificial Intelligence (AI), which are all included in the study of “web science” (Shadbolt & Berners-Lee, 2008, Hall et al. 2016). Economic development now hinges significantly on digitalization and the digital economy, while early mover high tech companies can develop and use advanced technologies to gain strategic advantages over competitors, potentially for years to come.