Let’s Get Together, Yeah, Yeah, Yeah…

At the moment, the financial world is going crazy for blockchains.

Apparently, they are going to revolutionize our world — making any existing record-keeping practice obsolete, whether in the fields of property, insurance, trading, contracts and anything else that requires keeping track of things.

Record-keeping is important — there is no question that inventions fundamental to record-keeping, like writing, math, and double-entry bookkeeping, propelled human civilization forward.

Blockchain is being talked about as if it is as important an innovation as writing, money, or other fundamental social institutions.

So, I am working to figure out just what it is about blockchains that makes them so transformative.

As far as I can tell, a blockchain is, at its most basic level, just a list.

And, the innovation seems to be: we will keep the list together instead of having one person do it.  I’ll have a copy, you’ll have a copy, and my friend will have a copy.

And somehow, keeping the list together means that we don’t have to worry about trust anymore.

Even though there are other people involved in keeping the list.

I am probably missing something, but I don’t get it yet.

If you have it all figured out already, I would love to hear from you.  If you, like me, are still trying to figure things out, I welcome your incoherent ramblings as well.  Perhaps we can sort this out together.

I look forward to it.