Blockchain Revolution: from the internet of information to the internet of value

[kneehighs]

Anyone else in here studied the emerging blockchain cryptocurrency industry?   The emerging ICO industry has already raised more money in 2017 than the entire Venture Capital industry.

As Fed Ex and USPS are intermediaries in the exchange of information, so centralized corporations like PayPal and Royal Bank of Scotland are intermediaries in the exchange of value.  As email eliminated the FedEx/traditional intermediary and increased speed and efficiency of free information exchange, so blockchains eliminate intermediaries like banks in the free exchange of value.   We are essentially moving from the internet of information to the internet of value.

Thought I would throw this up there for discussion.  Personally, I'm getting involved beyond trading on or mining via a room full of graphics card processors.

 

[Shyheels]

I didn't understand one word in three of that, not even the title of the thread...

[kneehighs]

5 minutes ago, Shyheels said:

I didn't understand one word in three of that, not even the title of the thread...

Ok. Do you understand Bitcoin?

Here's a 25 minute long video that explains blockchain in layman's terms.  

 

Edited August 4, 2017 by kneehighs

[Shyheels]

With all due respect, and I am sure that video is the bees knees on its subject, I can think of a million better and more productive ways to spend 25 minutes of my life than watching a video on the ins and outs of bitcoin and the block chain, whatever either of those things are.

The only bit coins I understand - or even want to understand -  are pieces of eight. 

Edited August 4, 2017 by Shyheels

[kneehighs]

Suit yourself.  For what it's worth, Marc Andreessen, the Co-founder and GP of VC firm Andreesen Horowitz says "The Blockchain's distributed consensus model is the most important invention since the Internet itself."  WalMart is doing a blockchain to track produce, Shopify.com enables bitcoin pauyments, Overstock.com, Expedia, X-box apps, Steam (video game platform), Dell, and NewEgg.com all enable blockchain payments via Bitcoin.

Edited August 4, 2017 by kneehighs

[meganiwish]

I think your computer must be broken.  All sorts of random letters are coming up.  Try turning it off and on again.

[Shyheels]

6 hours ago, kneehighs said:

Suit yourself.  For what it's worth, Marc Andreessen, the Co-founder and GP of VC firm Andreesen Horowitz says "The Blockchain's distributed consensus model is the most important invention since the Internet itself."  WalMart is doing a blockchain to track produce, Shopify.com enables bitcoin pauyments, Overstock.com, Expedia, X-box apps, Steam (video game platform), Dell, and NewEgg.com all enable blockchain payments via Bitcoin.

I guess those ransomware pirates have to be able to spend their dosh somewhere... 

[kneehighs]

Some people are calling Blockchain the 4th Industrial Revolution.  Here's a 3:34 second video from the IBM Think Academy.  

 

[meganiwish]

Some people called Cameron a 'great Prime Minister'.  That doesn't make it so.  What were the second and third Industrial Revolutions?

[kneehighs]

28 minutes ago, meganiwish said:

Some people called Cameron a 'great Prime Minister'.  That doesn't make it so.  What were the second and third Industrial Revolutions?

And Steve Ballmer former CEO of Microsoft said, "There’s no chance that the iPhone is going to get any significant market share. No chance."  And Nobel Prize winner Paul Krugman said, "The growth of the internet will slow drastically....most people have nothing to say to each other!  By 2005 or so, it will become clear the internet's impact on the economy has been no greater than the fax machine's"  

Regarding the 4th Industrial Revolution, to quote Klaus Schwab (Founder of the World Economic Forum and Schwab Foundation for Social Entrepreneurship), "The 2d industrial revolution, which started in the late 19th century and into the early 20th century , made mass production possible, fostered by the advent of electricity and the assembly line.  The 3rd industrial revolution began in the 1960's.  It is usually called the computer or digital revolution because it was catalyzed by the development of semiconductors, mainframe computing (1960s), personal computing (1970s and 80s) and the internet (1990s)."

[Shyheels]

Mr Schwab sounds like a man who is selling something

[kneehighs]

 

2 hours ago, Shyheels said:

Mr Schwab sounds like a man who is selling something

Don't most people sell?   True selling is not manipulating (putting sellers needs ahead of buyers without regards to the needs and rights of the buyer). In manipulation control is key. True selling is Influence and takes into consideration the buyers financial needs, rights, and feelings. Collaboration is key.  I doubt Schwab is manipulating for control so I hope he sells more books than pixels and paper can keep up with.

Edited August 6, 2017 by kneehighs

[Shyheels]

All this talk of 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th, whatever industrial revolutions is just so much banter and salesmanship. What of 3D printing? I've heard all sorts of talk, at least a few years ago, about that being the 2nd industrial revolution. At least the 3D printing boosters were more modest in their numbers of industrial revolutions.

 History will sort the wheat from the chaff. Revolutions are generally best observed in hindsight and are rarely apparent at the time.

Edited August 6, 2017 by Shyheels

[kneehighs]

9 hours ago, Shyheels said:

All this talk of 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th, whatever industrial revolutions is just so much banter and salesmanship. What of 3D printing? I've heard all sorts of talk, at least a few years ago, about that being the 2nd industrial revolution. At least the 3D printing boosters were more modest in their numbers of industrial revolutions.

 History will sort the wheat from the chaff. Revolutions are generally best observed in hindsight and are rarely apparent at the time.

The problem with 3D printing is that it requires the consumer to purchase a whole new piece of hardware.  So the acceleration to critical mass is light years away, because it requires thousands of new bulky hardware puchases. With blockchain, the only hardware a consumer requires is a smartphone.   Consumers are familiar with smartphones.  And apps.  This creates an existing install base of up to 2.5 billion in 2017.

Ultimately, people will have to reprioritize their lifestyles with emerging technologies.  They can take a offensive approach like Apple, Amazon, or Salesforce and position themselves for outstanding growth.  Or they can play defense like Sega, Commodore, and Netscape and preserve legacy systems of thinking and position themselves for more moderate financial growth.  Personal risk profiles, financial goals, and general attitudes towards new technologies will vary from person to person. 

[Shyheels]

The problem with 3D printing was that it was billed - unrealistically - as a home-consumer thing, which was never going to happen. It can be a revolution all right, but the revolution will turn around industrial grade printers with individuals providing the ideas and CAD designs - home printers were always going to be just gimmicks. After a brief and heady flurry of interest, with people misunderstanding just what was and wasn't possible, the buzz for home printers died pretty damned quick.

[kneehighs]

You cited the software as why 3D printing would never be a "home-consumer thing" and I cited the hardware.  Both are right.   Both create the lack of a B2C (Business to Consumer) install base: (Financial Times defintion).   

Ultimately, blockchain doesn't require a new hardware purchase.  It works with any smartphone.  So the foundation for scale is already built.  

Here's an Investors Business Daily article summing it up: December 27, 2016

John Mack, former CEO of Morgan Stanley is getting in on the action too: https://themerkle.com/ico-bubble-is-just-starting-ex-morgan-stanley-ceo-to-raise-950-million/ 

Abigail Johnson, Chairman and CEO of FMR (parent company to Fidelity) is bullish on blockhain: Investors Business Daily Link from May 23, 2017

 

 

Edited August 6, 2017 by kneehighs

[Shyheels]

Hardware Is the stumbling block for 3D printing. Printers that can print in high resolution and in materials such as steel, titanium, ceramics etc (anything other than cheap plastic) were never going to be within the reach of home consumers - size, cost, energy consumption, technological skill are all miles past anything a home consumer could aspire to.

[Cali]

I see 3-D printers have great possibilities in bone reconstructions. 3 -D printers are for prototypes and limited production items. 

[Shyheels]

Exactly. And in that sense they are revolutionary. 

[Heelster]

A large portion of the population has no interest in Bitcoin or Blockchain. To them is sounds like a scam. If they buy in Dollars, they really don't care what happens in between the money leaving their account and the product getting to the house.

Smartphones - - - Don't work everywhere, and a large portion of the population doesn't really use or need a smartphone.

Cash is still king - - especially between the east and west coast - - - where Trump supporters live.

Personally, I'm gonna sit back and watch for awhile. Don't know why, but there is something about all this that makes me think I don't need to hurried into it.

[Shyheels]

Totally agree

I do not even own a mobile phone, let alone a smart phone, and feel no need to buy one

Edited August 7, 2017 by Shyheels

[Gudulitooo]

On ‎07‎/‎08‎/‎2017 at 4:06 AM, Heelster said:

A large portion of the population has no interest in Bitcoin or Blockchain. To them is sounds like a scam. If they buy in Dollars, they really don't care what happens in between the money leaving their account and the product getting to the house.

Smartphones - - - Don't work everywhere, and a large portion of the population doesn't really use or need a smartphone.

Exactly, when I heard of Bitcoin the first time, it sounded like a scam. More precisely like these many "currencies" that are used in videogames to buy more credits. In the end, you have to buy it with real dollars, and you never get your real money back. Similarly At the supermarket, people learnt to accept reimbursements as points on the store's card. Ok you get a refund, but you can only spend it here. And quickly please. Monkeys' money. Bitcoin sounds like this.

As for smartphones, I could not survive without "mine" (the company's actually).

[kneehighs]

Everyone has a different financial risk profile, financial goal, and different attitude towards new technology adoption.  It's always a small percentage of the population who adopts new technology at the Innovation/Early Adaptor Stage.  That's common.  And it's usual for at least 50% of the population to be slow to adapt new technology (Late Majority/Laggards).  The reality is people who respond with a defensive strategy will enjoy small ROI, but maintain low risk.  Those who respond with an offensive strategy towards new technology will enjoy higher ROI, but be forced to manage higher risk.   It's a very individual thing.  Some fun quotes:

1876: "The Americans have need of the telephone, but we do not.  We have plenty of messenger boys." — William Preece, British Post Office.

1876: "This 'telephone' has too many shortcomings to be seriously considered as a means of communication." — William Orton, President of Western Union.

 

Edited August 8, 2017 by kneehighs

[Shyheels]

Lots of smoke and mirrors from where I sit. Sure, one can make stirring sounding cases for Bitcoin, just as people once made stirring cases for Beta and Eight Track as the way forward in home entertainment. 

[kneehighs]

19 minutes ago, Shyheels said:

Lots of smoke and mirrors from where I sit. Sure, one can make stirring sounding cases for Bitcoin, just as people once made stirring cases for Beta and Eight Track as the way forward in home entertainment. 

No smoke and mirrors from where I sit.  It's not just for bitcoin.  It's for everything that BlockChain can provide value for.  

[Shyheels]

As I say, Beta looked good to many people and indeed there was a case to be made for its superiority. On present indications, and for sheer lack of urgency or indeed of any real need for a change, I don't see the world stampeding for Bitcoin or any of that other stuff any time in the foreseeable future. There will be interest by some, such as yourself, but the overwhelming percentage of the population will stick with the old tried and true

[Heelster]

I like technology. As a 50+  person, there are a lot of fantastic capabilities I see in new tech. I use newer technology daily at my work, and strive to bring in the latest potential possibilities to improve what I do.

Some things I see issues, and when it comes to money, I draw some lines.

I always think about the old west - - If you were a robber, what was always an easy target for large sums of money.

Not usually the bank, but the stage coach. It was the transporter of the payrolls, and being so, meant an easy target. I can see one day where someone is going to pull off a major hack at a place like ADP. Someone is going to intercept all the direct deposits for a given day and channel them somewhere else  - - - - - and rob the stage coach.

Cash has it's drawbacks, but when technology fails, it still works.

[meganiwish]

Cash belongs to the people..  You can't track cash deals

[kneehighs]

Blockchain is happening folks, for real: http://www.trustnodes.com/2017/08/10/institutional-investors-move-bitcoin-ethereum

Goldman Sachs: “Whether or not you believe in the merit of investing in cryptocurrencies (you know who you are), real dollars are at work here and warrant watching,” Goldman Sachs said according to Bloomberg."

The Chicago Board Options Exchange (CBOE), US’s biggest options exchange, is to soon offer bitcoin options and futures trading following an agreement with Gemini Trust after CFTC approved Ledger X for clearing derivatives on July 24th.

 

[Shyheels]

It does not surprise me that the Chicago Futures Exchange is joining in the fun. As the old saying goes about futures trading, if you are very, very lucky and very, very skilful, and do your homework and know your stuff you will last that extra bit longer before you lose all your money...