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Blockchains: How They Work and Why They’ll Change the World

spectrum.ieee.org

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Re: Blockchains: How They Work and Why They’ll Change the World

#11

Post by antocv »

Naomarik wrote: post #8
TheReveller wrote: post #5

From the article: Can a blockchain find people offering rides, link them up with people who are trying to go somewhere, and give the two parties a transparent platform for payment? Can a blockchain act as a repository and a replay platform for TV shows, movies, and other digital media while keeping track of royalties and paying content creators? Can a blockchain check the status of airline flights and pay travelers a…

There is no reason to use blockchain to implement every single piece of software. Blockchain's primary utility is as a cryptocurrency. There's a lot of profit being made off people's ignorance and everyone I see pushing this agenda are people who have no idea how software works and are not qualified to speak on the matter. People have a problem: the software they have is not solving their problems very well. Before i…

Everything is shit, due to lack of transparency.

Re: Blockchains: How They Work and Why They’ll Change the World

#12

Post by geraldbauer »

FYI: I've put together a collection of blockchains (in JavaScript, Python, Ruby) and articles at Awesome Blockchains - https://github.com/openblockchains/awesome-blockchains . The idea is that to learn about blockchains build one (or two) from scratch. Not a crypto god? Or a JavaScript ninja/rockstar. No worries. Yes, you can. Happy blockchaining.

Re: Blockchains: How They Work and Why They’ll Change the World

#13

Post by FooHentai »

hobozilla wrote: post #2

I had to stop reading at: "In 2009, an anonymous hacker (or group of hackers) going by the name of Satoshi Nakamoto unveiled the first entirely digital currency" In what sense was Satoshi a hacker? Even the modern use of "hacking out code" is a stretch here. Also, it clearly was not the first digital cash. e-Gold and many others predate it.

Kinda a hard angle to pursue given the name of this site.

Re: Blockchains: How They Work and Why They’ll Change the World

#14

Post by canoebuilder »

A complex system that works is invariably found to have evolved from a simple system that worked. A complex system designed from scratch never works and cannot be patched up to make it work. You have to start over with a working simple system

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Gall_(author)#Gall.27s_la...

People like analogizing blockchain development to the development of the world wide web.

Tim Berners-Lee launched the first website in Dec 1990, Google launched in Sept 1998. And in between there were many companies founded that did things that lots of people liked. These companies found widespread use and patronage.

Satoshi Nakamoto launched bitcoin/and the blockchain idea in Jan 2009, it's currently Oct 2017.

What besides trading cryptocurrencies, and endless(half-bakedly) pontificating on, are people doing with blockchains?

What simple, functional, useful blockchain systems are people actually using today that have potential to grow into more useful and complex systems later?

Re: Blockchains: How They Work and Why They’ll Change the World

#15

Post by mbrock »

canoebuilder wrote: post #14

A complex system that works is invariably found to have evolved from a simple system that worked. A complex system designed from scratch never works and cannot be patched up to make it work. You have to start over with a working simple system https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Gall_(author)#Gall.27s_la... People like analogizing blockchain development to the development of the world wide web. Tim Berners-Lee launched…

Multisignature funds are used by almost all blockchain project organizations and companies. That's a simple system that's extremely useful.

So blockchains give you the ability to open a secure account of valuable digital assets and authorize spending via cryptographic signatures and business logic.

You couldn't do that before blockchains, and it's not hard to imagine interesting variations on the theme: for example the Colony project that's on the top of HN right now.

Re: Blockchains: How They Work and Why They’ll Change the World

#16

Post by decentralised »

hobozilla wrote: post #2

I had to stop reading at: "In 2009, an anonymous hacker (or group of hackers) going by the name of Satoshi Nakamoto unveiled the first entirely digital currency" In what sense was Satoshi a hacker? Even the modern use of "hacking out code" is a stretch here. Also, it clearly was not the first digital cash. e-Gold and many others predate it.

I think hacker is the right term to use for someone who can pick up existing systems and modify their behaviour to suit other purposes, be it for fun or profit. Think back to ESR and RMS type of hacker.

Re: Blockchains: How They Work and Why They’ll Change the World

#17

Post by rando444 »

Iv wrote: post #10
TheReveller wrote: post #5

From the article: Can a blockchain find people offering rides, link them up with people who are trying to go somewhere, and give the two parties a transparent platform for payment? Can a blockchain act as a repository and a replay platform for TV shows, movies, and other digital media while keeping track of royalties and paying content creators? Can a blockchain check the status of airline flights and pay travelers a…

This is the whole misguided overenthusiasm we have seen with BTC as well. Blockchains do change something fundamental: the ability to provide for the aforementioned services in case: - You want to stay anonymous - You can't trust a third party I would argue that a functional society would not need any blockchain services as it would provide the necessary privacy defenses to do anonymous transactions and the means to…

I don't think blockchains provide any anonymity. You can try to provide as little information as possible about yourself, but there is nothing in the blockchain that facilitates anonymity.

Re: Blockchains: How They Work and Why They’ll Change the World

#18

Post by canoebuilder »

mbrock wrote: post #15
canoebuilder wrote: post #14

A complex system that works is invariably found to have evolved from a simple system that worked. A complex system designed from scratch never works and cannot be patched up to make it work. You have to start over with a working simple system https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Gall_(author)#Gall.27s_la... People like analogizing blockchain development to the development of the world wide web. Tim Berners-Lee launched…

Multisignature funds are used by almost all blockchain project organizations and companies. That's a simple system that's extremely useful. So blockchains give you the ability to open a secure account of valuable digital assets and authorize spending via cryptographic signatures and business logic. You couldn't do that before blockchains, and it's not hard to imagine interesting variations on the theme: for example t…

Can you break down into the simplest language, what that actually means?

How is it superior to existing systems? For what applications?

Re: Blockchains: How They Work and Why They’ll Change the World

#20

Post by pja »

rando444 wrote: post #17
Iv wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is the whole misguided overenthusiasm we have seen with BTC as well. Blockchains do change something fundamental: the ability to provide for the aforementioned services in case: - You want to stay anonymous - You can't trust a third party I would argue that a functional society would not need any blockchain services as it would provide the necessary privacy defenses to do anonymous transactions and the means to…

I don't think blockchains provide any anonymity. You can try to provide as little information as possible about yourself, but there is nothing in the blockchain that facilitates anonymity.

Indeed - there’s no anonymity in BitCoin itself as all transactions are trackable. What anonymity there is exist because of external services like mixers/tumblers and the difficulty level of directly tying a given wallet to an individual.

Monero goes further and anonymises transactions between wallets.

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