TL;DR

• Mercedes unveiled a concept car that has an ‘emotional’ AI assistant, and displays its owner’s NFT collection.

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“What’re you even doing here?? There’s no place for you under this roof!”

Was this:

A) Our reaction to seeing blockchain technology at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES)?

OR

B) What we said to our mom’s boyfriend, Greg, when he came to Christmas dinner that one time when we were 10?

Whether you answered A) or B), you are correct.

(Congrats!)

Today we’re going to focus in on point A), and look at blockchain tech’s latest product integration, featured at CES.

(Full disclaimer: this article shouldn’t be filed under “This is cool” as much as it should be “This is gimmicky”).

Here’s what we’re on about:

Mercedes recently unveiled a concept car that has an ‘emotional’ AI assistant, and displays its owner’s NFT collection.

And if you’re wondering “who is this ‘emotive NFT car‘ for?” The answer is: no one, really (these kinds of concept cars almost never go into production).

But we’re getting off topic…

Here’s why there’s no place for blockchain tech at CES (at least, as it currently stands):

Blockchain is predominantly an infrastructure technology.

Meaning it should (ideally) operate in the background, without the end consumer being conscious of it.

The same way that when you watch a show on Netflix, you’re not actively aware that the video is being hosted/streamed from an Amazon Web Services (AWS) server to your TV.

…so where does blockchain ‘fit’ in the existing tech landscape?

Anywhere where digital value is being exchanged, but hasn’t yet been:

1. Monetized
   E.g. Collecting/trading digital items within a video game.
   
   OR

2. Globally unified/standardized
   E.g. Borderless, stateless, super-low fee banking.

(Neither of which need a booth at CES just yet).