Folk-Wisdom’s Fallacy | Can We ‘Trust the Process’?
The Blockchain Revolution
The revolution in technology consists of massive developments in the IT space that are leveraging the advancements made in electronic and digital architecture to showcase their actual capabilities. There are some that even say that the biggest leap in this revolution has been made by blockchain – that this is even beyond that of Big Data, machine learning, IoT, drones, and robotics. [1]
Blockchain is being considered as the second generation of the ‘Internet of Information’. However, it’s the general utility of blockchain that piques interest among critics, particularly in the way it addresses the most common misconceptions of day-to-day users. What misconceptions?
- Our mobile phones are private devices.
- To develop trust in the economy, intermediaries (e.g. banks, recordkeepers, etc.) hold the utmost importance in registering the day-to-day activities of all citizens.
- Large government expenses that are claimed to go towards the welfare of the country cannot be scrutinized.
Understanding or Undermining?
Every intermediary that may be serving a pivotal role towards the growth of our economy also has an underlying problem – one that is becoming very evident through re-targeting/re-marketing tactics. Think about sales calls that establish direct contact with potential customers on a regular basis; all of this is due to the data that is being captured and employed by the systems that record intermediary transactions. Our privacy is being undermined, and we are unsure of the extent of it.
Hack at the Highest Level
When, as customers, we use a software service or a mobile/web application, we generally assume that the software developers have put encryption mechanisms in place. We assume that they’re safe from cyber-attacks.
This is true for the most part, but to manage a massive number of users from all over the world, companies often use a centralized server; all the information is saved in one place only. Companies such as Home Depot, LinkedIn, and JP Morgan (among others) suffered the consequences of this in the worst way possible, when their users/clientele were badly impacted due to the general information storage architecture they employed. [2]
In blockchain, such information would only float from one peer to the next, with different systems storing different sets of transaction information. Thus, information potentially is spread all across the world, with each system/block having its own specific encryption.
How Safe Are We?
We all cannot be tech gurus, but we can’t ignore the simple fact that the economy is the health status of a country that is heavily reliant on the information gathered through keeping exhaustive tabs on its people. We can only hope that this information is kept and distributed safely. And this is the conquest that is trying to be achieved by blockchain.
References
