Well, at least AI is going to be better than the blockchain hype. No one knew what “blockchain” was, how it worked, or what could be used for. I had a very hard time explaining once you put something in the chain, you can’t easily pull it back out. If you wanted to verify documents, all you have to do is put a hash in a database table. Which we already had. It has exactly one purpose: prevent any single entity from c…
I'd like to propose a different characterization: "Blockchain" is when you want unrestricted membership and participation.
Allowing anybody to spin up any number of new nodes they desire us the fundamental requirement which causes a cascade of other design decisions and feedback systems. (Mining, proof-of-X, etc.)
In contrast, deterring one entity from taking over can also be done with a regular distributed database, where the nodes--and which entities operate them--are determined in advance.