Joe Andrieu, one of the pioneers of the VRM movement, wrote an inspired blog post on how not just VRM, but user-centric identity as a whole, can enable a radical rethinking of how systems integration can work. If you put the user at the center of the system not just from a “control” standpoint, but from a data integration standpoint, all kinds of new possibilities arise.

What’s really eye-opening about his post is the way he puts it in the context of Einsteinian relativism and an AI concept called “stigmergy”.

You have to read it. In his conclusion, Joe notes:

Sure, there is still a lot of work yet to be done. We have to figure out the protocols and technologies for what data vendors actually share in that data-store and how we assure reliable, always-on access in a secure and privacy-protected manner. Fortunately, as I mentioned earlier, the user-centric Identity meta-system is addressing a huge portion of that.

If ever there was a clarion-call for XDI as a protocol for doing exactly what Joe envisions, this is it.