4 Serious Issues that Blockchain is absolutely unable to solve
Authors: Lisa-Marie Rodler & Marcel Kaiser
This article deals with the (consciously unfairly picked) inadequacies of the blockchain technology which could be identified and wrapped in an article that is supposed to make you smile with its light-hearted illustrations. This somewhat satiric text is a co-creation of a graphic designer and a blockchain enabler who spent their time on public transportation together recently.
Distributed, autonomously operating systems offer an alternative to conventional platforms. These have for example the advantage that processes are controlled by multiple independent parties. Blockchain technology is often either called overrated and a mere hype or praised as the solution for a lot of challenges society faces. As enthusiasts, we used the advent period to reflect our positions carefully and find issues in which DLT itself will be of no help.
We are still, on a daily basis, defining, evaluating and dismissing use cases. For those again, the implementation has to be carefully crafted technologically, strategically and based on experience. The design and practical feasibility of secure and efficient decentralized systems is a complex challenge that must be solved by a combination of technical comprehension and game-theoretical aspects. Now, DLT is a lot but not self-explanatory (hence so many starting points and so few which are well-accessible. Check this article.). The lack of a userspecific handbook has to be bridged by experts and research which can be expensive, time-consuming and tiresome. Not only for those who enable the technology professionally but also for private individuals who have an intuition that they might face change soon.
Beloved ones, family, and friends tend to ask a lot about DLT in general and Bitcoin in particular. While I love the conversation, it can be tedious to explain and answer one by one. An on-chain solution to this issue has sadly not been in development. Although it is of course possible to keep track of whom who has explained what in the blockchain, the system will not take responsibility for sitting your aunt down for an hour answering all the questions there are (today). Which questions are asked most frequently, however, deserves an article on its own. We are sure there will be one, soon.
We can not buy, touch or even really grasp the concept of time. Especially in the Advent season, it becomes painfully clear how little time one has when it is about giving it to others. Despite being the most valuable asset we have, it will not be part of the internet of value as we imagine it. All types of machines, currencies and assets in general will be traded automatically and algorithmically in order to maximize their value and save us money and time in order to spend those more efficiently, welfare-increasing and meaningful. However, it is hard to directly purchase time or to simply send one’s time on someone else’s time wallet (do not think about the movie “In Time” now).
It’s just nasty. Come on. This is almost as bad as yelling at nice service employees or cutting lines. Please, do not.
Also, DLT will not directly make you come up with genius ideas about how to make your loved ones happy. It will not buy presents, it will not wrap them or write a card, it will not inspire you… or will it?
Wait up, it can. Here are some inspirational ideas on what to gift your loved ones (since you are late already):
Get them crypto assets: Make them rich not only in the heart but also on wallet.
Token cookies: The sweet sugary variant of whatever is your favourite crypto asset (please share your specimens with me, I’m curious!)
Education: We all know the people who really want to get into blockchain as a new year’s resolution. Help them by sharing them an article, buy them great videos or get them books (like this) if they are already intermediate. Although of course, your time and patience might be all they ask for.
While there are tremendous amounts of interesting and amazing use cases around, humanity will have to solve some problems off-chain. And for the mentioned ones, this is a good thing. We found and described topics jokingly in which DLT will not help us as opposed to kindness, politeness, and mindfulness. However, these are values which I keep finding in this amazing community and hope to find for a long time.
We wish you a merry Christmas and a happy new year!
If you like this article, we would be happy if you forward it to your colleagues or share it on social networks.
Lisa-Marie Rodler is a product designer in training and a state-certified product assistant at the State Professional School Centre for Product Design and Testing Technology Selb. By 2021 she will be a product designer and eligible to train students herself. She is an openminded artist seeking visual and conceptual harmony of products, virtual and physical. Feel free to reach out to her via LinkedIn.
Marcel Kaiser is a project manager and research assistant at the Frankfurt School Blockchain Center (FSBC). His fields of interest are primarily decentralized finance (DeFi) and industrial blockchain applications. Besides, in the context of his master thesis, he analyzes the impact of blockchain technology on the economy. He speaks at public events about topics like Libra, quantum cryptography and blockchain in general. You can contact him via mail (marcel.kaiser@fs-blockchain.de), LinkedIn or Xing.
Published at Sat, 21 Dec 2019 06:06:31 +0000
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