Time Magazine's Person of the Year Might Be a Robot

Written by: Sandy Carter, COO of Unstoppable Domains

Translated by: BitpushNews

After a long wait, Bitcoin finally achieved the predictions of countless people by successfully breaking the $100,000 barrier by the end of 2024. If you want, feel free to pop some champagne to celebrate. But I believe that Bitcoin breaking this historic milestone is just the beginning; more significant events are on the horizon. I firmly believe that 2025 will be the long-awaited year of decentralization.

The reasons are not closely related to Bitcoin's soaring valuation. Over the past year, anyone paying attention to the prospects of decentralized technology has witnessed an explosive growth in new use cases. Some of these use cases are quirky, others are cool, and some hold the promise of addressing some of humanity's greatest challenges today. Together, they push the utility of decentralization into the stratosphere through measurable impact rather than mere speculation. More importantly, they provide compelling reasons for people to adopt and engage with decentralization in 2025.

Buckle up; here are my top five predictions for the coming year.

1. Bitcoin is Expected to Soar

It feels like something is missing in December without bold predictions about Bitcoin's price. But instead of throwing out another $250,000 or $500,000 figure like others, let’s explore a more radical possibility: Bitcoin becoming the foundation of global strategic reserves.

The fundamentals support this possibility. If a major world power (or an unexpected one) officially includes Bitcoin as part of its treasury reserves, current price predictions could be overturned. We’re not just talking about $500,000; prices of $1 million or even higher could become the new norm as countries rush to acquire the world’s rarest digital asset.

Even without geopolitical adoption, Bitcoin's scarcity alone makes it a unique asset. There will only ever be 21 million Bitcoins, far fewer than the 60 million millionaires worldwide. As institutions and potentially governments buy up large reserves of Bitcoin, it will soon become a goal for a select few to own a single Bitcoin—unless they are smart enough to invest early.

Coupled with the continued growth of Bitcoin's utility as a decentralized network and its role as a volatile alternative to fiat, we are witnessing exponential growth.

But here’s an unknown: What happens when Bitcoin's price is no longer driven solely by the market but is influenced by countries hedging against each other in the race for digital dominance? This is where things get tricky. With several countries already trialing Bitcoin fiscal plans, $500,000 might just be the starting point.

2. Depinners Get Rich Quickly

It must be acknowledged that the cryptocurrency industry sometimes struggles to communicate its vision to the outside world: slogans like "financial sovereignty" mean little to the average person unless their bank account is frozen.

So, what if we look at it from a different angle? Imagine this: decentralization allows you to earn money without doing anything. Don’t think this is a fantasy, because "Depinners" have already made it happen. By leveraging and "farming" your computer resources, such as mobile processors, anyone can earn passive income by contributing to decentralized physical infrastructure (DePIN).

The DePIN revolution perfectly illustrates how decentralization is changing the concept of ownership and empowering people with (profitable) power. Equally important, it is spawning incredible new use cases, from addressing noise pollution to managing energy networks to natural disaster warnings, tackling a wide array of issues. Although DePIN is still in its infancy, its almost limitless application potential means that by 2025, early adopters could quickly earn passive income equivalent to 5% of the average person's income—without much effort on their part.

3. Memecoins Get Serious

I predict that in 2025, there will still be "serious" financial commentators who do not recognize any practical value in meme coins, viewing them merely as overhyped internet jokes, but these commentators are not only wrong but laughably so.

In some ways, I can’t blame them: on the surface, most memecoins seem like a joke, especially the typical, ubiquitous DOGE. But ignoring them could be perilous: memecoins are rapidly growing, and their development is surpassing their origins. The value of these tokens is not driven by speculation but by their ability to bring people together for various projects, from entertainment to politics.

In fact, memecoins can teach us a lot about community and the essence of participating in a decentralized world. By 2025, we will see brands recognizing the extraordinary potential of memecoins to attract new audiences, nurture new communities, and reimagine the relationship between businesses and consumers. It is certain that memecoins can generate profits—but in the long run, their value to forward-thinking brands will far exceed their token prices.

4. Time Magazine's Person of the Year Might Be a Robot

I predict that the Person of the Year for Time Magazine in 2025… will no longer be a human. For the first time in its 98-year history, this annual award will be given to what I call "Mrs. Humanoid"—a composite figure symbolizing the rise of artificial intelligence and robotics and their integration into human society.

This humanoid robot (sometimes referred to as a "gynoid") will represent the tremendous impact of AI and robotics across various fields, such as healthcare and education, highlighting machines' ability to blur the lines between human and machine labor. Time Magazine has previously selected some controversial figures (like the Person of the Year in 1938), but I believe there is nothing wrong with choosing a robot. I even think that failing to feature a robot on the cover would be irresponsible to society.

The rapid rise of robots should spark global discussions focusing on the ethics of AI, the nature of work, privacy, and the redefinition of human identity. Many of these changes are positive, but there are also moral gray areas and potentially concerning situations. Therefore, how to address these challenges and seize opportunities, along with developing new regulatory frameworks, should become one of the most important issues of this century, alongside climate change. Placing Mrs. Humanoid on the cover of Time Magazine would be an important step in driving attention to this issue, especially among regulators and legislators.

5. Traditional Search Loses to AI

Will 2024 be the last time we "Google" something we don’t know? With the emergence of Gen AI applications, we have ample reason to think so.

Tools like ChatGPT and Perplexity represent the most significant change in the search field since Google appeared 25 years ago. Harnessing the power of AI not only yields more accurate results (thanks to its ability to understand semantics) but also changes the dynamics of search.

These new applications have excellently passed the Turing test, enabling meaningful conversations on a wide range of topics, from cooking to philosophy. Thus, they represent a fundamental shift in our emotional relationship with technology, making "traditional" search (exemplified by Google’s long-standing near-total monopoly) seem quite outdated.

Just as the advent of the internet sparked a "SEO arms race" among brands vying for the first page of Google search results, in 2025, we will witness businesses beginning to explore how to maintain their relevance in an AI-driven search era.

One of the biggest changes will be the evolution of websites, which will increasingly cater to AI agents rather than human users. In 2025, we will see domain names take on new significance, with the most successful brands being those that can leverage on-chain domains to protect consumer data, integrate AI capabilities, and provide revolutionary online experiences for their audiences.

Whether these predictions come true in whole, in part, or not at all, one thing is certain— as we move into the latter half of the 2020s, decentralization is no longer a distant future but is about to become an inescapable and integral part of everyone's present.

免责声明：本文章仅代表作者个人观点，不代表本平台的立场和观点。本文章仅供信息分享，不构成对任何人的任何投资建议。用户与作者之间的任何争议，与本平台无关。如网页中刊载的文章或图片涉及侵权，请提供相关的权利证明和身份证明发送邮件到support@aicoin.com，本平台相关工作人员将会进行核查。