X : You don't like crypto currency?
Me : Not in its current forms such as bitcoin. If we solve the energy issue however there are all sorts of potential opportunities once we introduce concepts like radical transparency with ownership of addresses being public ...

X : Ownership of addresses being public?
Me : As the default, no pretending to be open whilst creating race conditions to hide ownership.
X : Privacy?
Me : You can pay for that i.e. given crypto is just a form of digital contract then all sorts of rules become possible ...

i.e. a variable transaction tax which is punitively high if any of the transactions in the past contain non public addresses or a wealth distribution tax for any transaction which can be variable with the total amount owned. All sorts of interesting possibilities can occur.

But that really needs some form of sovereign backed digital currency, ideally with a society that has a strong ethics of care (over ethics of choice), a real focus on the "We" over "Me" and a willingness to tackle issues like poverty and inequality.
X : UK?
Me : Try China.

X : You hold China up as a role model?
Me : No, but the West needs to learn from China particularly its mixed economic model, use of situational awareness and targetting of supply chains, long term economic play etc.

X : Are we?
Me : Learning? How often have you known GCHQ's chief come out and basically say (my interpretation of his words, he says it much more politely) -"get your effing act together" - https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-56851558

China is charging ahead economically, technically, it's dealing with poverty and Xi has signalled they will tackle inequality ... the West could end up behind in terms of technology with a more proverty stricken and unequal society. That's not going to work out well ...

... this is only compounded by China's refined ability to play games in supply chains and high levels of situational awareness in the competitive landscape. In the West, we talk digital sovereignty but it's mostly blah, blah, data, blah, blah, AI, blah and story driven drivel.

There are many things I would criticise Dominic Cummings over but he was not wrong with the whole Odyssean Education post and our severe issues with leadership.

X : We have to be like China?
Me : No. We need to have that "Me" vs "We" discussion and decide what our common values are. Then we can apply patterns from China (mixed economic, situational awareness, long term play etc) to our society whilst maintaining our distinct values.