Re: Why blockchain technology isn't that novel...

On 28 April 2014 03:27, Manu Sporny <msporny@digitalbazaar.com> wrote:

> A couple of counter-points to the "Bitcoin is the next Internet" and
> "Blockchain technology will re-invent entire industries" rhetoric:
>
> Is Bitcoin Really the Next Internet?
> http://www.coindesk.com/bitcoin-really-next-internet/
>
> The blockchain story is bullshit
> http://geoffreywoo.com/the-blockchain-story
>
> The blockchain story is bullshit (Part 2)
> http://geoffreywoo.com/the-blockchain-story-part-2
>
> The basic premise is that Bitcoin is in a pretty big bubble right now.
> Blockchain technology has a narrow set of problems that it could be
> applied to and it doesn't necessarily solve those problems in a way that
> is performant, or acceptable to most of society. Some very good points
> made in the articles. Then again, many technologies that ended up
> changing the trajectory of humanity (like the automobile or the Web)
> started out as inferior solutions to the status quo.
>

I think bitcoin is potentially as big as the web.  It's a brilliantly
designed decentralized time stamp server sort of similar to timbl's paper
trail essay from 1999

http://www.w3.org/DesignIssues/PaperTrail

So society started out as decentralized, but with the advent of cities and
nation states it moved more towards a hierarchical tree like structure.
The web was unique in that it was not a tree, but rather, a graph.  The
principle of the web is that everything could be connected to everything.

Mathematically there's a precise distinction between a graph and a
network.  That being that in a network the edges have a numerical
weighting.  It brings a whole new topology and is a field of study in
itself.  Bitcoin transforms the internet from a graph into a network.  This
is extremely exciting, and is perhaps the biggest possible innovation that
could happen.  Of course linked data can do very similar things, so it will
be fascinating to see these two technology evolve.

see also:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Network_theory


>
> -- manu
>
> PS: I'm personally still undecided, but it's good to get some
> counter-points into our heads.
>
> --
> Manu Sporny (skype: msporny, twitter: manusporny, G+: +Manu Sporny)
> Founder/CEO - Digital Bazaar, Inc.
> blog: The Marathonic Dawn of Web Payments
> http://manu.sporny.org/2014/dawn-of-web-payments/
>
>