Blockchain Technology - What can it do? What makes it so Technically Advanced?

[jedi]

I wanted to put this thread up to better understand what the Hype behind the Blockchain is all about and to invite forum members to inform we laymen about this great innovation.
Forget Bitcoin, that is a bi product of the Blockchain, but what can the Blockchain offer?
I mean, this has been given a great deal of hype and as the leaders within this space say it is the greatest innovation since the internet, what can it do? How can I use it?
Your thoughts are most welcomed to this thread.

[box0214]

think of all the services that require a middle person to facilitate some type of trade. the blockchain makes this middle person almost obsolete. through out human history for the past thousands of years, there has always been a middle man taking some type of fee. if you dont believe it, ask yourself or anyone:

How do you send $1 million USD / EUR / YEN to another person in another country without someone taking some type of fee?

that is what the blockchain can do. not just for money, but can be other things as well. Take for example: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Negotiable_instrument

A negotiable instrument can be digitized onto the blockchain. Currently the nxt platform is working on this called "singleton assets" (https://goo.gl/SsCpsr). The end game isn't just going to be Bitcoin as the main currency, but a platform to enable digital assets like these to exist without a middle man. It could be ethereum, nxt, or counterparty, but there will be platforms or frameworks for this exact purpose.

[Possum577]

think of all the services that require a middle person to facilitate some type of trade. the blockchain makes this middle person almost obsolete. through out human history for the past thousands of years, there has always been a middle man taking some type of fee. if you don't believe it, ask yourself or anyone:

I actually believe it goes much further than this. There's no reason for banks to be interested in eliminating the middle man when they serve as the middle man in so many scenarios that make them ALOT of money.

The blockchain creates efficiency in the transaction process and that efficiency equals money in reduced costs for corporations. It also eliminates a lot of risk (which saves money indirectly). When the blockchain eliminates the need for manual audits of transactions (with customers or inter-company) there is a huge, huge value.

I plan to start a new thread that talks about the finer points of why the blockchain is such a valuable thing for business...and ultimately a lot other reasons we can't even think of yet.

[Chakra74]

The fact that the database or information stored in the block chain is immutable and shared globally is one of the reasons why this is so revolutionary. The world has never had a ledger that couldn't be tampered with under any circumstance.

There's no going back and cooking the books with Bitcoin. Fraud happens all the time in the real world, and even trusted parties sometimes can't be trusted. Now we finally have a system where no people are required to handle trust, since in general most of us are susceptible to temptation.

You can enter the fact that you own a parcel of land into the block chain, and no matter how much money or power another individual has, they can't take that link of evidence away from you. No matter how much political or financial pull they have, they can't alter an immutable ledger.

[Dr.B]

So what makes the blockchain technology so great? Thinking about this, then it is the fact that people with common interest can come together and share opinions and move things. Isn't that what government and politics should do?
Now, we are delegating decision making to people who we hope that they act in our best interest. But experience tells us that politicians almost never act in the best public interest , as long as those interests don't match lobbyist's interests.
Blockchain however has all the functionality to make good judgement decisions based on consensus. It would enable us sitting at home and just give our vote on all important decisions there are. No votes get lost, double counted or stolen. Think about this: how wonderful would that technology played out in Bush/Gore election. Maybe the wold would have been different, now.
However, blockchain would remove the need for politicians. It has the power to provide direct decision making capabilities on all important questions and lasws. Sure, we still would need people to come together and write the laws. With blockchain however, we would be able to separate the ones who write the laws from them voting for them - and of top everything would be transparent enough to to understand friction.

That is what the heart of blockchain technology is really about. It is a democracy enabler.

[LiteCoinGuy]

Blockchains, The WWL & A Global Shared History

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uci0Df7zO8c

[psztorc]

I wrote a <10 page tongue-in-cheek "book" about precisely this topic: https://docs.google.com/viewerng/viewer ... chainz.pdf

Enjoy!

[DavidShares]

Earlier this year I wrote about how bitcoin and the block chain are revolutionary for several reasons, if you want to give it a read over. If you have questions just let me know, or I'm sure any other of these smart forum members can help too!

How Bitcoin and the block chain are a transformative technology
https://blog.blockchain.com/2015/06/23/ ... echnology/

[Vaultoro]

Bitcoin is the first digital asset that can't be copied because of the blockchain. This opens up such massive opertunities that I don't know where to start.