I am curious about Block Chain and have a few questions that are incessantly running in the back of my head. Would be glad to be freed from these with any possible solutions or engaging open-ended debates.
I am a really strong supporter of technological growth which is the very reason I am here keying (penning – is a stereotyped word 😉 ) this down today. But, also futuristic with a wide acceptance associated with a narrow skepticism at the same time that arises as we happen to dig deeper to get our hands dirty with something we love to know more about.
Disclaimer: I am not an expert in this paradigm, but just another curious brain fed by my own curiosity as I take my baby steps to unravel this huge carpet of Block Chain; and I might have missed out on something fundamental, of which one or, all my following thoughts could be ramification of. I purely and totally welcome any kind of healthy discussions and criticism that could help us build a stronger consensus to void our gaps and educate us altogether.
Following are the young branches of my growing Question tree (trying to be funny alongside 😉 )
What if a computer involved in a Block Chain is down and as a result a validator associated with this computer whose validation is mandatory to complete this transaction as a successful entry into the block chain ledger is unable to participate in this transaction and hence a disapproval of this transaction – which otherwise in a positive scenario could have been a legit transaction?
How is it ensured that the algorithm/source code cannot be deciphered by an involved block’s owner (or anybody else for that matter) and is manipulated to their advantage? In other words, how can the system be kept from being biased that is backed by a majority or a parasite.
Who protects the code from being decompiled?
How affable or user-friendly is this technology for people who’d like to leverage it and are not anywhere close to having the acquaintances necessary to be able to deal with this on their own. Once again, “Information is wealth” RULES. This Information-Asymmetry is the one that’s driving all the sorts of businesses today. What is the hope that the history would not repeat in the case of Block Chain as well. In the end, although it’s a strong movement toward decentralization of accountability/control and hence the slicing of intermediaries that would consequently incur lesser charges (but not nil) on the individuals or whose blocks are being involved?
What is the assurance that these individuals who will gain more and more grounds as time passes, as they have more blocks in their bags and not develop into an institution that would again result back in the current situation that can dictate the motion of every form of asset involved and the taxes levied on the transactions which could (but God forbit not) go beyond today’s charges?
What about the rigidity of the so-called Smart Agreements? What if a human being is unable to save her/his child’s life as s/he has been unable to make a payment at a hospital or is unable to unlock his car which is linked to the Block Chain network where his car is a stake and s/he is a designated validator and because of a late/due payment that s/he is being penalized and resulting in the above situation? Sorry about the extremity but I had to think this one through to the very end, because today it could have people sitting at the ends of the computers which could in some way squeeze in for some flexibility. But, not to be forgotten that, it’s also the AI and IoT growing alongside of Block Chain and is most likely to be handed over to the machines completely in which case, of course empathy is ruled out(despite a lot of claims of being close to humane behavior by the likes of SOPHIA – the robot pretending to emot and emulate a human being), there could be no margin for an erroneous or a late payment and every small mistake could be answered with a CAPITAL PUNISHMENT (possible though is a worst case at some point in time).
Quantum computing – If there’s something that is limiting the Block Chain today, then I must say it is the Speed of Computation for computing the hash code in order to be accepted as an entry that can be appended into the ledger (or in some other way the computation speed for sure is one of the strong pillars of Block Chain). Of course, there is a backing solution to increasing the computation time by increasing a parameter like “Difficulty” to the hashing algorithm. Today, it’s all built on the Computation that is based on 1s and 0s or the Binaries which every form of code is reduced to, before the electrons in the transistors can dance accordingly producing the desired output but discrete ones on the hardware side which is visualized by us in no time.
But, we’re not far from Quantum Computing – which is a totally different paradigm where an electron can have not just 2 STATES unlike the current computation which considers that the transistors can only switch between ON and OFF states resulting in a 1 or a 0 for a single bit respectively, and when extrapolated will result in 1 of 2^N possible states at any given point in time for N bits, while on the other hand, N Quantum Bits or more popularly known as Qubit can have 2^N super-positioned states simultaneously at any given point in time according to Heisenberg’s Principle of Uncertainty (which is CRAZY) and is envisioned to be utilized at large scale – that an electron can have multiple states (more than 2) based on its spins which could potentially multiply the computation power exponentially and turn any of the current computations that are deemed complex and time consuming into something unimaginably simpler and less time consuming and would definitely be ground breaking. Of course, there are a few algorithms for QC, albeit. Refraining to divulge from the current topic, it’s very much close to an acceptable form of reality to be using quantum computing in the near future which could also be the point in time when Block Chain sees itself to be reaching a considerably matured state that can be ready to be accepted by the soceity. Disruption, doesn’t it seem like one? It’s like you almost had that antidote for the snake you got bitten by, and a hungry lion walked into you for its meal. Haha. Made this up in the last minute. Pardon me if it couldn’t get you to laugh.
Thoughts Flow 