Bitcoin & blockchains are super complicated ANd not at all obvious. Let us explain a Little..
Running is intuitive. It’s literally child’s play. You just don’t need a running instructor.
Lots of other things are so well designed they are almost intuitive; opening a jam jar, texting, watching TV (not using the remote though), using a blender and more.
The classic case of intuitive design is iPhone scrolling. You don’t need a lesson on iPhone scrolling.
Skiing on the other hand is counter intuitive. It looks easy, sliding and turning down a steep hill, what could possibly go wrong? Well it turns out, quite a lot.
The natural instinct with skiing is to lean back. Error 101. An instructor will help you to lean forwards, get more grip, gain control, snow plough and eventually parallel turn. And that’s the point. You need an instructor.
Actually – you don’t need an instructor but if you go solo, trust us there will be pain.
So why not take a short cut, save yourself from self inflicted injury (the worst kind) and enjoy the ride instead?
1. The first thing you should know is that Blockchains are Counterintuitive.
What seems like a simple combination of cryptographic primitives (SHA256 / Merkle Trees / Distributed computing) actually combine together where the whole is much greater than the parts.
Carlota Perez writes well about technological revolutions and financial capital you can buy her book here. She is also a keen observer on technology and makes the case for blockchain not as a technological revolution but as a revolutionary technology (along with AI, machine learning and biotech).
The technological revolution is ICT itself – the piece that was always missing was a digital payments technology of which bitcoin was the 99th attempt…(after Paypal, HashCash, eCash and many more)
2. The Second thing then is that Blockchain is a big deal but it is ONLY a revolutionary technology.
Beware that ‘only’ is a little misleading in that blockchain is likely to radically change most industries that rely on databases, payments and supply chains.
In ‘The Sun Also Rises’ by Hemingway two characters discuss how bankruptcy happens.
Q. How did you go bankrupt?
A. Two ways. Gradually then suddenly.
It’s the same with innovation – things change painfully slowly, incrementally then all of a sudden very quickly.
The current financial system (Pacioli’s Double entry book keeping) has stayed largely the same since the Italian Renaissance- and all that has been turned on it’s head in just 20 years by decentralised digital currencies like Bitcoin. Every major central bank is now scrambling to launch their own new blockchain backed fiat – snappily titled Digital Currency Electronic Payment DCEP version of crypto.
3. The final and third thing you should know is that not all blockchains are the same.
(spot the bitcoin…)
They may have chains of blocks but the way they are controlled and their uses vary enormously -from open source distributed ledgers with 20,000 nodes (Bitcoin) to private centralised blockchains with government nodes only (DCEP)
Why you need a BlockGames session
Here at BlockMark we offer corporate training & executive education on blockchains – called BlockGames.
We offer these sessions precisely because blockchains are counter intuitive, disruptive and because blockchains are so complicated.
simplifying the complex
Pseudonymous accounts? What are those? Private keys for public ledgers? Mining for nonces? Nobody and everyone in charge at the same time?
Confused? Will it disrupt my business? My career?
Well – just ask yourself – Did railways disrupt canals? Did desk-top-publishing disrupt typewriters? Did social media disrupt news?
Take a look at our Corporate Training & Executive Education Programmes which will help you master blockchains in the blink of an eye.
- Understand what blockchains are and are not.
- How blockchains actually work
- Understand revolutionary tech cycles and the bitcoin frenzy
- How blockchains will impact & disrupt your industry.
