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Someone, Please hold me!

So you've never heard of Lukso (LYXE) before, or maybe you have and you're still hiding in the corner of your room, gently rocking back and forth pondering the outer limits of our nearby future. Honestly, I'm either getting too old for this crap or have completely lost touch with where society is heading because this project genuinely makes my head spin. If you haven't had a chance to read the white paper, I suggest you head on over to their website and check out the Adobe file here. If you don't have time for a 146 page deep dive, buckle up because you're in for one heck of an eye-opening ride. 

You can definitely think of Lukso as a brand centric crypto-network that revolves around their holy trinity of project principals: Identification, Virtualization, and Tokenization. Utilizing smart contracts on the Ethereum virtual Machine (EVM), its main focus groups are Millennials and Gen Z influencers who use social media, design, and fashion applications to interact with the 'digital lifestyle eco-system'. This would be your up and coming Artists, Instagramers, Tik-Tokers, and other influencers who have created a brand or social media identity for people to follow and interact with. In a broad sense Lukso wants to classify the digital and physical aspects of an influencer and box them up into 'Lifestyle products' for their followers to consume. So, if you love social media and influencing, keep reading because you're in for a real treat with where Lukso is heading. If you're scared about our future and the deprecation of society, also keep reading because you're about to be terrified.  

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Identification

The network plans to take the Social media world by storm with self-sovereign, universal blockchain IDs that are interoperable across all platforms. This gives the user complete control over their identity and where they choose to use it. Plus with a digital ID, you'll no longer need to remember various passwords. This is either a huge plus for you or the coming of Big Brother 3.0. Not only do they want to ID people but also physical objects by utilizing RFID's to make them, in their words, "Phygital" (get it Physical+Digital; ahhh, so clever). By marrying personal and product IDs across a secure blockchain, people will have greater transparency over their digital reputation and the people connected to their brands/products. 

The Identification of digital and physical items has another clear benefit in the way of eliminating counterfeits. Intellectual Property (IP) is defined as a 'creation of the mind' and bootlegs have always been a huge problem in the creative industry. With the coming of the digital age this problem has only expanded and gotten worse. Have you ever heard of a micro chip in a Bra or pair of shoes, or ever seen a holographic label with a serial number on it? These are all attempts at eliminating the black market of knockoffs that exist and blockchain technology is the next natural progression to accomplish this. By utilizing smart contracts and a recorded ledger; creators can provide verifiable identities for their IP that will help retain the items inherent value. So this begs the question, where will the actual value be; in the physical item or its digital counterpart?

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Virtualization

This is where things begin to get a little scarier and you can start to see where they are trying to push the industry and future of social interactions. Virtualization is the process whereby things and people become digital. With the virtualization of people and things on Lukso, the virtual identity of the person and/or item will be able to transfer its properties across realities. So if you sell digital collectibles or items to your followers (think NFTs), Lukso wants to ensure that the virtual items they've purchased are usable across all platforms. For example, if you buy digital items or clothes for your virtual closet, you should be able to use/wear them anytime your virtual self is represented. Say from game to game or media platform to media platform. Yes, this means that in some far off corner of the inter-web, someone is making digital fashion for your future virtual self. 

Another eye-catching move that they are focusing on are the presence of virtual models. A virtual model is a digital representation of a person real or fake. Take Lil Maquela for example; she has amassed millions of followers on Instagram since her debut in 2016 but the 'reality' is she's not a real person, she's a digital model. If you're in the dark about all this like I was, you can see a video of who and what she's all about here. Taking things a step further, consider the move will.i.am took when he digitized himself into an avatar during Robert Downey Jr.'s YouTube series, 'The Age of A.I.' (video here (FF to 9:40sec)). During the segment, I think will.i.am sums it up best, "...we're in an intersection of a place that we've never been in society, where people have to determine what's real and what's not..." will.i.am wants to utilize the avatar as a way to represent himself when he is not able to be physically present. You can think of them as hyper-realistic virtual assistants. Now, if only there was a movie that predicted this very same plot line, hmmm (see below to find out if you're thinking of the same movie).

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Tokenization and Collective Consumption

Have you ever thought to yourself, 'You know what we need, even MORE tokens!' Its not like there aren't enough out there already, but Lukso wants everyone to be able to tokenize themselves by using a token generator. Now, you too can drop your very own Initial Coin Offering (ICO) to your social media followers. People, brands, and artists will have a whole new way to monetize themselves and the products they create/sponsor. By providing users a way to create their own tokens, it gives them the ability to customize and allocate the tokens according to their own set of guidelines. It also gives investors a safe way to provide capitol for projects they are backing by purchasing tokens through smart contracts. Built on top of the Lukso blockchain, these tokens can be used as rewards or as forms of payment within the community utilizing the tokens. I can just see it now, Kim Kardashian and Kanye coins traded between virtual groups for the ability to own exclusive collectibles and merchandise. The avarice these coins generate will be in itself a whole new way for creators and companies to market themselves to the masses.

"The more things change, the more they stay the same"-Chico Crypto

Another concept Lukso sees happening in the future is a shared economy called collective consumption. With the rise of people desiring a lifestyle above the one they currently have, they are predicting a new segment of rental markets both digital and physical. They see a continued flux of people sharing or renting wardrobes to the broader community. To some extent this already exists in the physical world but not so much in the digital space. With digital scarcity, the collective consumption of NFTs could be more prolific than its physical counterpart (I mean, who's gunna know, right?). This is designed so the person can rent the collectible or merchandise for special occasions where holding the asset would be valuable to the user. I'm more of a T-shirt and jeans kinda guy but who knows, maybe a digital Versace suit isn't too far out of the question for me now? Other implications for this could transfer into the gaming industry. Imagine instead of actually looking for that level 70 sword you can rent it for 48 hours to defeat the final boss (I mean, how many barrels do I actually have to destroy to find this thing?).  

Conclusion

The whole idea kind of reminds me of the technology companies are using already in warehouses to help inventory, analyze, and track their products. The implementation of these kind of technologies is scary enough but since it's happening with commercial and retail items already, the social-media sphere of digital assets seems like a natural progression. For those of you gung-ho on the idea, the technology can give you the ability to manage your entire sphere of influence and makes it easier to access all the information you have floating around the ether without the need for a third party. Not only does it do this for the user but it also provides transparency and value to the end consumer as well. More and more people are aligning their personal values with a companies when deciding on who to purchase from. Lukso aims to make open transparency a very deterministic quality for buyers so they can factor in what a company is doing in the background. Not only will you see where the items are being made but also who is making them and where the materials are being sourced. Thus creating a new peer-to-peer economy where 'mindful luxury' can be exercised effectively.  

For those of us scared about the coming prospects this concept delivers, initially, it may be superficial and a hard pill for us to swallow. However, with the growing blockchain economy it may just be outside of our current comfort zone. In my opinion, the whole concept falls very close to the plot of the movie 'Surrogates'; where Bruce Willis stars as an FBI agent in a world where they use robot avatars to live out their idealistic lives. As a Sci-Fi fan, I highly recommend the movie as it fits in nicely with the narrative that the Lukso Network implies. In a time where the lines of reality and virtuality are constantly being blurred, this may be something we see more and more of. Is this really the direction we are all heading with our digital and social interactions? Gahd I hope not, but if anyone does have a clear lead in the direction of a web 3.0 social-media marketplace, its definitely the Lukso Network.

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