Blockchain

[TravelGal]

Can anyone tell me more about this? I'm reading that it's usually association with bitcoin but is being thought of as a basis for a increased security and lower distribution costs for travel transactions. "Promises better online security with data that cannot be manipulated and are stored in a peer-to-peer network." Lots of words. What do they mean? Maybe I need a primer on bitcoin?

[SteveH]

What is a blockchain, and why is it growing in popularity? (https://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2016/11/what-is-blockchain/)

I had bookmarked this article and have used it when discussing blockchain with clients. There is a lot of promise but so far not many real-world solutions based on it.

[TravelGal]

What is a blockchain, and why is it growing in popularity? (https://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2016/11/what-is-blockchain/) I had bookmarked this article and have used it when discussing blockchain with clients.

There is a lot of promise but so far not many real-world solutions based on it.

Yes to the last sentence. Pretty much what the travel article said. My only concern, re: travel, is that it is supposed to be immutable. NO ONE can change the information. With the masses of dunderheads I encounter on every booking, that might not be such a good thing. Being able to see the trail of errors, I mean information, could be enlightening, however.

[Insomniac]

YouTube has a lot of good explainers.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vu6Nrw55oa8

[TravelGal]

They have a great marketing department. Where do they say, for example, who pays for this data storage? Is it everyone on their own computer? That's why it will take 200 times the amount of power Ireland uses? Does every computer in the chain have to be on at all times to keep the updates? How can it not overload a small home computer? HOW is it that "something doesn't add up?" If I make a change on my computer, buying Bob's llama, and it writes to everyone eles's computer, who is to say that is not correct? Who writes the underlying programs? They say you can't double dip but theoretically you can't do that with a simple bank account so what's different? I'm still real unclear on who is minding the store. Seven of Nine?

[SteveH]

Under its present form I don't see it for personal use, other than for a cryptocurrency like Bitcoin. It requires too many resources. But I can see this used by corporations, for example GM might have a private blockchain for its suppliers to record orders, shipments and invoices. In order to become a GM supplier a company might have to host a copy of GM's blockchain on their systems. I don't know what the magic number of redundant copies of the blockchain database is that will insure accuracy but I'll bet there is a number where adding more servers won't make the system any more secure. It may be a very small number. Same for money center banks that transfer funds. This could all be done with blockchain which would eliminate entire departments of staff.

Blockchain is slow however. It takes hours for a Bitcoin transaction to be confirmed.


Assuming Alice is fine with the community standard of 6 blocks, how long will she have to wait? “One hour” is the common answer but this is not quite the whole story. Because blocks are found by a random process, there is no telling precisely how long it will take for 6 blocks to be found. On average, it takes about 10 minutes to find each block. The average block time can actually be slightly shorter or longer depending on if the total hash power of the Bitcoin network is growing or shrinking. Ignoring this detail though, this is why 6 confirmations take about 1 hour on average. However, the block-creation (or mining) process is random and each block may take much longer or shorter.

https://coincenter.org/entry/how-long-does-it-take-for-a-bitcoin-transaction-to-be-confirmed

For this reason, I can't see blockchain technology affecting our lives much at this point, outside of cryptocurrency. Even then, the owner of the currency is using client software, not actually hosting the blockchain database.

Take everything I've just posted with a grain of salt. I'm by no means an expert.

[nrc]

I think the key take-away right now is that it's a great technology for a distributed ledger, but the hype around crypto-currency is highly speculative right now.

John Oliver did a bit on it that describes some of the hazards.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g6iDZspbRMg&t=750s

[TravelGal]

I think the key take-away right now is that it's a great technology for a distributed ledger, but the hype around crypto-currency is highly speculative right now.

John Oliver did a bit on it that describes some of the hazards.



25 minutes well spent. :laugh::laugh::laugh:

So, wiping eyes, I can understand how the big travel companies see something in blockchain. The "eliminate whole departments" is attractive to something like Carnival Corp that owns Carnival, Holland America, Costa, AIDA, P&O, Seabourn, and Princess. Back office stuff, I think. I don't see someone calling me to make a reservation and my telling them, it will go through the Blockchain and I'll get back to you whenever it clears.

Seriously, I'm still not sure about the whole "unable to hack" and "replicated" thing. If the whole blockchain is replicated on each individual computer, oh nevermind. I'll just wait.

[SteveH]

https://marketoonist.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/01/180108.blockchain.jpg

the blockchain bandwagon (https://marketoonist.com/2018/01/blockchain.html)