Scan barcode
spai's review against another edition
4.0
Nice book. Provided a good overview of the many opportunities and challenges surrounding adoption of Blockchain.
One interesting concept that stood out was the immutability of information stored on Blockchains. While that is a benefit when the sharing is desirable, it is a problem when the information needs to be private. For example, the nuclear codes or the physical address of a person getting death threats. I had not considered the latter and that has gotten me thinking.
One interesting concept that stood out was the immutability of information stored on Blockchains. While that is a benefit when the sharing is desirable, it is a problem when the information needs to be private. For example, the nuclear codes or the physical address of a person getting death threats. I had not considered the latter and that has gotten me thinking.
nanometers's review against another edition
informative
slow-paced
3.0
Solid read as an introduction to incentives and creation of rules of law vs code. For those deep in the space, I wouldn't recommend it.
elliethebookreader's review
3.0
Quite an interesting book, giving a broad overview of possible implications of Blockchain on different areas of life, and the legal consequences of it. I enjoyed the introductory section that explained quite well the foundations of Blockchain, how encryption works and what I did not know (e.g. zero-knowledge proof).
Throughout the whole the authors keep coming back to the impact of “lex cryptographica” on the society, which does raise a lot of question of how our world will operate, the values that it will have and how our traditional institutions of power will be forced to adapt to the changed.
One of the best things about this book is that it is so new (2018), thus it didn’t have a chance to become obsolete just yet (although in couple of months that could easily be the case). What never ceases to astonish me are the great many applications of Blockchain, how it is transforming and can transform the financial sector, but also maybe corporate world, with the concept of DAO (however the notion of a completely decentralized organization is still bizarre for me, so outside of what we are used to).
One of the good points I liked was about Internet and constant comparisons that everyone like to draw between it and Blockchain. Similar to the present discourse, when Internet emerged everyone was sure that it will lead to the anarchy and social liberation. However the State found “points of control” through Internet providers to influence the content of the Web, and thus exert its authority even in the vast space of the Internet. Similarly, the author in the chapter “Modes of regulation” demonstrates possible ways to regulate Blockchain, influence the conduct of all its participants. Despite many questions that arise during this analysis (for one, using Bitcoin as a constant example does not seem appropriate, since its only one of the applications of Blockchain with its unique characteristics that can differ significantly from other applications), I do believe that states will find a way to regulate blockchain (if talking about cryptocurrencies, for example, the most evident way it seems to me is through regulating crypto-exchange providers). Also, a lot of people are talking about how Blockchain eliminates the need for intermediaries, however, as rightly noted by the authors, everyone thought the same thing about Internet, and yet here we are, trying to combat those Internet-based intermediaries now with a new so-called “panacea”. In my view, intermediaries will come onto blockchain and the inherent complexity of the social interactions, along with human laziness will lead to introdiuction of blockchain-based intermediaries, that might be more efficient than what we have, but they will still be there, as people like to shift the burden of worrying about some things to “professionals”, and as long as it comes at a reasonable price – they will opt for that, instead of doing everything themselves.
The book ends at a powerful and dramatic line: “Decentralized Blockchain-based application may well liberate use of the tyranny of centralized intermediaries and trusted authorities, but this liberation could come at the price of a much larger threat – that of falling under the yoke of the tyranny of code”.
And that is more of a reason for more people to be educated to understand the mechanics behind the code to be able to control it and design boundaries for it.
Throughout the whole the authors keep coming back to the impact of “lex cryptographica” on the society, which does raise a lot of question of how our world will operate, the values that it will have and how our traditional institutions of power will be forced to adapt to the changed.
One of the best things about this book is that it is so new (2018), thus it didn’t have a chance to become obsolete just yet (although in couple of months that could easily be the case). What never ceases to astonish me are the great many applications of Blockchain, how it is transforming and can transform the financial sector, but also maybe corporate world, with the concept of DAO (however the notion of a completely decentralized organization is still bizarre for me, so outside of what we are used to).
One of the good points I liked was about Internet and constant comparisons that everyone like to draw between it and Blockchain. Similar to the present discourse, when Internet emerged everyone was sure that it will lead to the anarchy and social liberation. However the State found “points of control” through Internet providers to influence the content of the Web, and thus exert its authority even in the vast space of the Internet. Similarly, the author in the chapter “Modes of regulation” demonstrates possible ways to regulate Blockchain, influence the conduct of all its participants. Despite many questions that arise during this analysis (for one, using Bitcoin as a constant example does not seem appropriate, since its only one of the applications of Blockchain with its unique characteristics that can differ significantly from other applications), I do believe that states will find a way to regulate blockchain (if talking about cryptocurrencies, for example, the most evident way it seems to me is through regulating crypto-exchange providers). Also, a lot of people are talking about how Blockchain eliminates the need for intermediaries, however, as rightly noted by the authors, everyone thought the same thing about Internet, and yet here we are, trying to combat those Internet-based intermediaries now with a new so-called “panacea”. In my view, intermediaries will come onto blockchain and the inherent complexity of the social interactions, along with human laziness will lead to introdiuction of blockchain-based intermediaries, that might be more efficient than what we have, but they will still be there, as people like to shift the burden of worrying about some things to “professionals”, and as long as it comes at a reasonable price – they will opt for that, instead of doing everything themselves.
The book ends at a powerful and dramatic line: “Decentralized Blockchain-based application may well liberate use of the tyranny of centralized intermediaries and trusted authorities, but this liberation could come at the price of a much larger threat – that of falling under the yoke of the tyranny of code”.
And that is more of a reason for more people to be educated to understand the mechanics behind the code to be able to control it and design boundaries for it.