Blockchain
As with TCP / IP, the potential of Blockchain is immense, beyond what we have come to consider today, but it will take time.
Although I share the enthusiasm that the technology around the Block Chain will be a turning point in the history of the companies and economies of planet earth, experience says that if we embrace this technology, there are so many barriers — social, government, technological, educational , and many others — that have to fall, as when the first pillars of the Internet or the electrical networks were founded.
What is Blockchain and why all the fuss? Let’s keep it simple
BlockChain is a data storage system on a network.
Block chain — or Blockchain as is sold — is a concept for a type of database that stores information in groups set as unique and immovable blocks of a chain, one after another.
Blockchain databases fall into the bombastic category of Distributed Ledger Technology (DLT), a technology designed to store and use data that can be decentralized — stored in various places, and distributed — connected and therefore able to communicate. both privately or publicly.
Redundancy and security
In the implementation for the Cryptocurrencies BitCoin, this chain of blocks is the data storage where each of the transactions carried out by all the users of the currency are recorded and a copy of that database is stored in each server or node throughout the BitCoin Network.
Every node on the network has a copy of the database. If a node has an error in its data, you can use the thousands of other nodes as a benchmark to correct yourself.
To change the way that system works, or the information stored in it, most of the computing power in the decentralized network would need to agree to those changes. This ensures that any changes that occur are in the best interest of the majority.
So what is Blockchain for?
There are many companies that have adopted Block Chain type databases these days. Some of the existing solutions can be difficult to identify because they have only changed the way they process their data and do not require end users to change their behavior much. For example, gift debit cards, inventory identification, control and tracking systems, deliveries, documents, microloan systems like Stellar in Africa, copyright in artistic creations, contract management, among many other applications.
Technology adoption
The Block Chain concept — and the technology adjacent to it — and its adoption, can be compared to the development of distributed computer network technology, specifically the adoption of TCP / IP (Transmission Control Protocol / Internet Protocol), which laid the foundation for the development of the Internet.
Introduced in 1972, TCP / IP was viewed with skepticism by network and communications technology developers for a long time and, in its early years, was used in ‘non-critical communications’ such as email. It was in the late eighties and early nineties that companies, such as Sun, NEXT, Hewlett-Packard, among a few others, used TCP / IP, in part to create private networks within organizations.
By then, there were already many building blocks and tools that were expanded and gradually replaced traditional local network technologies and standards. In the mid-1990s the World Wide Web came along and a new type of business emerged: Internet Service Providers ( ISPs) that provided “plumbing” — the software, hardware, and services needed to connect to the now public, and exchange information in the sea of data all over the planet. The browsers were marketed by the Netscape company and Internet Search Engines were born to guide users around the Web.
The basic infrastructure gained critical mass, and new companies appeared that replaced the ‘old glories’ of the Internet and today, the capacity of the natives of the Network puts considerable pressure on traditional companies, such as newspapers, construction companies and the architects (By the way, many occupations changed radically, such as bank robberies, for example).
The new wave
Once broad Internet connectivity was established, decentralization began to be considered and an interest was drawn in peer-to-peer architecture. From its first steps, until today, there is a long way to go. Retina operations are done in India with the support of software based on Artificial Intelligence that is in … the cloud. China is poised to be number one in the global economy and banks are using money that doesn’t physically exist, to nameSome details of the status quo post TCP / IP (that is already known).
Almost there?
Let’s be generous and say it took 25 years or 30 years — since the 1970s — to adopt the Internet Protocol. Now, Bitcoin is the first application of blockchain technology, which was proposed in 2008. Bitcoin is like email from the early days of the Internet. Do the math.
History suggests that a foundational technology is adopted for its novelty and the complexity of the effort represented by the coordination of all the actors that are needed to produce value. For example, if Facebook had 100 users, it would not be attractive to millions. In a technology, its usefulness — and its goodness — can only be measured by the number of consumers who generate value among them. This is valid for blockchain applications. On the same scale that its adoption increases, it is the impact of institutional changes.
One thing we can be sure of is that there is a future in which we will all face blockchain-based technologies, what we do not know is when.
Blockchain Basics: A Non-Technical Introduction in 25 Steps (English) 1st ed. Daniel Drescher Edition, ISBN-10: 1484226038; Editorial Apress; 1st. edition (16 March 2017)
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Originally published at https://anotheronymous.substack.com.
