What we talk about when we talk about blockchain?

What we talk about when we talk about blockchain?

“What we talk about when we talk about something?” is, to me, a very profound sentence that can only be applied to profound subjects.

Such as, love. Or, if you allow a little extension, blockchain that most of us seem to be familiar with somehow.

Oh yeah, people are talking about blockchains, don’t they? In the newspapers, on television, in the conferences, forums, speeches or even lectures and bars … You can add to the list a few more places if you take bitcoin as a blockchain topic as well.

In just a few years, this thing has evolved from a geeks’ new toy into a dinner table topic. Everyone is talking about it. Yet, people seem to refer it so differently. If we are not careful about how we use this term, the efficiency of communication is greatly reduced and sometimes people are just talking without understanding each other.

So, I am gonna list a few things that, I think, might be what people have in mind when they use the word blockchain. I hope this list can clarify a little bit next time when you discuss this with others - well, not helping if you are trying to impress the sexy lady sitting next to you in a bar, but might be handy if your boss or your client suddenly ask you about it.

Ok, so here it comes …

What we talk about when we talk about blockchain?


the technology itself


all those important components that makes this technology work like cryptography, peer-to-peer network technology, and the whole intricately designed mechanism that binds them altogether.
this is where blockchains can get ordinary people so confused and also where you can steal some weird terms like Byzantine and pretend that you are an expert.


the weird internet money or bitcoin


yeah, still a lot of people think blockchain is bitcoin, or whatever those weird, virtual, whimsical money on the internet. when people talk about money, they tend to be more confident as everyone uses money. most of the time, people are skeptical about it, if not scornful.
you can expect discussions ranging from what’s backing up the currency, what’s not to like about centralbank-run fiat money,… to what if I lose my password, or what if quantum computing breaks it…


the bank killer


expressions like the silicon valley is replacing the wall street were pretty hot last year. so, I guess a lot of people working in the financial industry might portrait blockchain like Agent Smith in the Matrix.
cryptocurrencies or tokens enabled by the blockchain technology of course can be easily associated with the traditional institutions that handle money, assets, shares and etc.
but as we all know that banks are not just banks, they and modern governments are so closely related that a single technology cannot change that overnight.


the new scam excuse or crime enabler


yeah, this is a bit unfortunate, but it has been, is and will still be happening. all kinds of crimes, from bitcoin or altcoins mining crowdfunding scams, password hacking or robbery, internet phishing, to the infamous ICO activities… yeah, people are making fast and easy money from blockchains, but the numbers of losers or victims seem to outgrow them now. naturally, people are scared. it takes time for the general mass to understand that technology is neutral.


a magic wand


there are, of course, people who expect too much from this new technology.
blockchain certainly could facilitate amazing things, I agree, but it is not at all magical itself. people might ask if we apply blockchain to certain activities, can it generate trust among participants? this is the typical victim of the wild spread description - blockchain is a trust machine!!
come on people, if a wand can perform magic, blockchain is just that piece of wood, you need to work with it and say the right spell (revamp the whole workflow and system associated with that activity) for the magic to happen!


the digital economy


some expect even more! people who embrace this idea frenetically might start to imagine a world where everything is tokenized and the world runs on various chains where every activity has a virtual mapping in a parallel digital world…
sounds very Sci-Fi? indeed. while I do not deny this possibility in the remote future, I am pretty sure that blockchain is just one, albeit very critical, piece of this ambitious digital dream(?).
again, so much has to be changed, so many other critical obstacles have to be conquered, before we can imagine that world to happen. it’s just too early and the impact of blockchain cannot be overstated.


final words


I hope the above list can help you clarify what others say to you about this new technology. Feel free to add other possibilities in the comments. One thing I forget to mention is that the blockchain people talk about nowadays actually should be the more general term - distributed ledger, but people use it less frequently so I follow this imprecise convention.

images - pixabay


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