Attracting users is a challenge. We will be adding elements of gaming to make participation more enjoyable, as well as a micro-payment system to reward and incentivize digital co-creation. Because critics may worry about the responsible use of bottom-up systems, Nervousnet will integrate reputation systems, qualification mechanisms and self-governance by community moderators.

It's a noble effort, but a solution without a problem, IMO.

Decentralized applications such as Augur and OpenBazaar are examples of solutions that won't need incentives to allow people to exercise power that resists centralization.

The European Court of Justice's ruling on 6 October that countries and companies must comply with European data-protection laws when transferring data outside the European Union demonstrates that a new digital paradigm is overdue. To ensure that no government, company or person with sole control of digital filters can manipulate our decisions, we need information systems that are transparent, trustworthy and user-controlled. Each of us must be able to choose, modify and build our own tools for winnowing information.

The truth of the matter is that our national identities are competing with our identities that don't benefit from geopolitical boundaries. Solving the problems of these new identities is the next technological (and eventually political) frontier.