{"id":17274,"date":"2023-12-27T18:28:32","date_gmt":"2023-12-27T17:28:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/affidaty.io\/blog\/?p=17274"},"modified":"2023-12-27T18:28:34","modified_gmt":"2023-12-27T17:28:34","slug":"blockchain-digital-technology","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/affidaty.io\/blog\/en\/2023\/12\/blockchain-digital-technology\/","title":{"rendered":"Blockchain Technology: Innovation,Transformation,&#8221;Anchoring&#8221;"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<div style=\"height:30px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-technological-prostheses-between-philosophy-and-myth\">Technological prostheses between philosophy and Myth<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">To approach <strong>Blockchain<\/strong>, I would like to attempt a &#8220;mythological&#8221; path, without exclusively confining myself to the term <mark class=\"has-inline-color has-vivid-purple-color\">Oracles<\/mark><sup>1<\/sup> : the bridge services that connect <strong>Blockchain<\/strong> and the external world, just as oracles in ancient times served as intermediaries between gods and humans, seeking meaning that eluded them <sup>2<\/sup>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:30px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"aligncenter size-full is-resized\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"data:image\/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP\/\/\/yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7\" data-src=\"https:\/\/affidaty.io\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/IMAG.-1-S.-MAGNI-1.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-17539 lazyload\" style=\"width:663px;height:auto\"><noscript><img decoding=\"async\" width=\"936\" height=\"274\" src=\"https:\/\/affidaty.io\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/IMAG.-1-S.-MAGNI-1.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-17539\" style=\"width:663px;height:auto\" srcset=\"https:\/\/affidaty.io\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/IMAG.-1-S.-MAGNI-1.png 936w, https:\/\/affidaty.io\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/IMAG.-1-S.-MAGNI-1-560x164.png 560w, https:\/\/affidaty.io\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/IMAG.-1-S.-MAGNI-1-150x44.png 150w, https:\/\/affidaty.io\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/IMAG.-1-S.-MAGNI-1-768x225.png 768w, https:\/\/affidaty.io\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/IMAG.-1-S.-MAGNI-1-750x220.png 750w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 936px) 100vw, 936px\" \/><\/noscript><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<div style=\"height:30px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Instead, I opt for a form, aiming at the<mark class=\"has-inline-color has-vivid-purple-color\"> essence of the chain<\/mark> by associating it with the one to which Zeus resorted to punish Prometheus <sup>3<\/sup>, bound in chains in a horrific and <mark class=\"has-inline-color has-vivid-purple-color\">irreversible<\/mark> sentence, with an eagle tearing his liver every day, only to have it regenerate at night.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">He was guilty of having stolen fire and <mark class=\"has-inline-color has-vivid-purple-color\">teknai<\/mark><sup>4 <\/sup> from him, given to the human species.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">A fragile and miserable species, ephemeral and atopic, due to the &#8220;<mark class=\"has-inline-color has-vivid-purple-color\">distracted lightness<\/mark>&#8221; with which Prometheus, after molding us from mud and clay, left us in the hands of his brother Epimetheus: etymologically, the one who understands &#8220;epi&#8221; &#8211; that is, after &#8211; depicting the fool of the titanic village!<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Unfortunately, when the turn of the human species came in the lottery, nothing remained at the bottom of the bag for the poor fool: to reveal his folly but unfortunately also to deny foresight and prescience that understanding &#8220;pro&#8221; should have ensured to our alleged benefactor Prometheus.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Therefore, we descend from Epimetheus even before Prometheus: we are human in the fire and in the &#8220;<mark class=\"has-inline-color has-vivid-purple-color\">metico transformative<\/mark>&#8221; capacity that he gave us, with the complicity of Athena, always our ambiguous protector and patroness of Metis <sup>5<\/sup>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Given the price the Titan paid for his benevolence towards humanity, from the Prometheus chains and the background of guilt and atonement, I decline <strong>Blockchain<\/strong>, as well as any other technological &#8220;mirabilia&#8221;: techniques to &#8220;plug&#8221; and remedy our<mark class=\"has-inline-color has-vivid-purple-color\"> ontological lack<\/mark>, which they try to remedy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:30px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"aligncenter size-full is-resized\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"data:image\/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP\/\/\/yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7\" data-src=\"https:\/\/affidaty.io\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/IMAG.-2-S.-MAGNI-1.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-17542 lazyload\" style=\"width:481px;height:auto\"><noscript><img decoding=\"async\" width=\"799\" height=\"533\" src=\"https:\/\/affidaty.io\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/IMAG.-2-S.-MAGNI-1.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-17542\" style=\"width:481px;height:auto\" srcset=\"https:\/\/affidaty.io\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/IMAG.-2-S.-MAGNI-1.png 799w, https:\/\/affidaty.io\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/IMAG.-2-S.-MAGNI-1-560x374.png 560w, https:\/\/affidaty.io\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/IMAG.-2-S.-MAGNI-1-150x100.png 150w, https:\/\/affidaty.io\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/IMAG.-2-S.-MAGNI-1-768x512.png 768w, https:\/\/affidaty.io\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/IMAG.-2-S.-MAGNI-1-750x500.png 750w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 799px) 100vw, 799px\" \/><\/noscript><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Creator: Jose Antonio Tolosa<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<div style=\"height:30px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">They belong to us and define us: far from being a disaster, something exogenous that has fallen on us to uproot us from the Edenic state of nature, in good faith of the myth of Rousseau&#8217;s noble savage!<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">To emphasize it, for those who doubted, I pivot on the <mark class=\"has-inline-color has-vivid-purple-color\">stick<\/mark> as the first and existential technological <mark class=\"has-inline-color has-vivid-purple-color\">prosthesis<\/mark>, sentenced to us by the famous <mark class=\"has-inline-color has-vivid-purple-color\">Sphinx riddle<\/mark> that Oedipus first solved: its<mark class=\"has-inline-color has-vivid-purple-color\"> support function defines the human,<\/mark> in the tool to go three-legged in old age when ontological weakness inevitably knocks <sup>6<\/sup>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:30px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"aligncenter size-full\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"data:image\/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP\/\/\/yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7\" data-src=\"https:\/\/affidaty.io\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/IMAG.-3-S.-MAGNI-1.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-17543 lazyload\"><noscript><img decoding=\"async\" width=\"388\" height=\"292\" src=\"https:\/\/affidaty.io\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/IMAG.-3-S.-MAGNI-1.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-17543\" srcset=\"https:\/\/affidaty.io\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/IMAG.-3-S.-MAGNI-1.png 388w, https:\/\/affidaty.io\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/IMAG.-3-S.-MAGNI-1-150x113.png 150w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 388px) 100vw, 388px\" \/><\/noscript><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\"><br>painting by Gutave Mourearu, 1864, &#8220;Oedipus and the Sphinx&#8221;<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<div style=\"height:30px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Our technological history unfolds from these premises, which serve as a backdrop to the stage where the<mark class=\"has-inline-color has-vivid-purple-color\"> miraculous prosthesis<\/mark> that is <strong>Blockchain<\/strong> moves.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">A miraculous &#8220;<mark class=\"has-inline-color has-vivid-purple-color\">in-between<\/mark>,&#8221; which we could truly assimilate to the Latin Janus bifrons, which, in addition to symbolizing the transition from old to new, personifies the moment in between and precisely the condition of the &#8220;between.&#8221;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Every <strong>technology<\/strong> <mark class=\"has-inline-color has-vivid-purple-color\">exists outside<\/mark>, <mark class=\"has-inline-color has-vivid-purple-color\">among<\/mark> us and the world: in the case of <strong>Blockchain<\/strong>, something trying to &#8220;<mark class=\"has-inline-color has-vivid-purple-color\">solidify and agglutinate<\/mark>,&#8221; in creating a chain that claims the attributes typical of gods: above all, <mark class=\"has-inline-color has-vivid-purple-color\">immutability and irreversibility<\/mark>, through which to try to balance the dizzying and disorienting acceleration to which we are exposed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">A support between a user and a technological advisor, to give us a clear example of <mark class=\"has-inline-color has-vivid-purple-color\">third-order <\/mark><strong>technology<\/strong> if we follow the captivating Floridian taxonomy, where each term of the triad <mark class=\"has-inline-color has-vivid-purple-color\">user-intermediary-advisor<\/mark> now becomes <strong>technology<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:30px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-abundance-and-scarcity-in-the-digital-realm-the-fourth-evolution-and-the-divine-promises\">Abundance and scarcity in the <strong>digital<\/strong> realm: the fourth evolution and the &#8220;divine promises&#8221;<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">A <strong>technology<\/strong> that we could therefore assimilate to an <mark class=\"has-inline-color has-vivid-purple-color\">anchor<\/mark> in a stormy sea to protect us from the volatilization of the real and hold onto something stable and lasting, to trust.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Better yet, something <mark class=\"has-inline-color has-vivid-purple-color\">to entrust trust to due to machine computation<\/mark>, to instill security in a global <mark class=\"has-inline-color has-vivid-purple-color\">transactional world <\/mark>to protect exchanges, safeguarding the value that <strong>digital<\/strong> abundance sometimes seems to undermine.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">How indeed to assure <mark class=\"has-inline-color has-vivid-purple-color\">value without scarcity<\/mark>? How to protect an increasingly <mark class=\"has-inline-color has-vivid-purple-color\">intangible and immaterial capital<\/mark>? How to <mark class=\"has-inline-color has-vivid-purple-color\">manage trust<\/mark> in the flight towards the <mark class=\"has-inline-color has-vivid-purple-color\">hyperhistoric <\/mark>era? How to guarantee and certify relationships that move frictionless in the infosphere? And again, how to protect the &#8220;physical&#8221; world, certifying its local values, and &#8220;stand&#8221; without being overwhelmed by a <mark class=\"has-inline-color has-vivid-purple-color\">disruption<\/mark> that has abundance as its decisive hallmark?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">An epochal transformation, centered on a simple but exponentially amplified phenomenon: <mark class=\"has-inline-color has-vivid-purple-color\">hysteresis<\/mark>, as explained by Ferraris and his rigorous interpretation of the <strong>digital<\/strong> <sup>8<\/sup>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">A term derived from the Greek \u1f51\u03c3\u03c4\u03ad\u03c1\u03b7\u03c3\u03b9\u03c2, hyst\u00e9resis, meaning delay: to be understood as the ability of effects to survive and accumulate, even in the absence of causes, or more rigorously in mathematical terms, a phenomenon whereby the value assumed by a quantity dependent on others is determined not only by the instantaneous values of these but also by the values \u200b\u200bthey had previously assumed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In simple terms, it is the characteristic of a system to react late to applied stimuli and depending on the previous state, introduced into the theory of <mark class=\"has-inline-color has-vivid-purple-color\">dynamic systems <\/mark>by James Alfred Ewing in 1890.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Therefore valid in physics as well as in biology and economics, and what is more dynamic than the <strong>digital<\/strong>?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Indeed, with the <strong>digital<\/strong>, we go through that &#8220;change&#8221; that on the industrial side is now consolidated as the<mark class=\"has-inline-color has-vivid-purple-color\"> Fourth Industrial Revolution<\/mark>: after steam, electricity, and early computing, thanks to the pervasiveness of ICT, we are now surpassing mass production to evolve towards profiling and personalization<sup> 9<\/sup>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Even on the socio-anthropological side, the term Fourth Industrial Revolution seems to hit the mark.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">After discovering that we are not at the center of the world with Copernicus, having abandoned the claim of uniqueness in the theory of evolution with Darwin and lost the center in our own home with Freud&#8217;s bifurcation that deprives the Subject of total control <sup>10<\/sup>, in today&#8217;s Fourth Revolution, we also detach ourselves from the presumed <mark class=\"has-inline-color has-vivid-purple-color\">ontological primacy <\/mark>that remained!<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Datafication and hyperconnection deliver us to a <mark class=\"has-inline-color has-vivid-purple-color\">multisystemic reality<\/mark>, where we are homogenized in a weak &#8220;<mark class=\"has-inline-color has-vivid-purple-color\">dataifying<\/mark>&#8221; ontological status at <mark class=\"has-inline-color has-vivid-purple-color\">Inforg<\/mark>: agents capable of interacting and producing data and value like sensors, processors, AI actors with which we are equated, one among the other nodes in the network.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The ongoing metamorphosis thus pivots on a <mark class=\"has-inline-color has-vivid-purple-color\">new form of interaction:<\/mark> a constant <mark class=\"has-inline-color has-vivid-purple-color\">engagement &#8211; empowerment <\/mark>of people and objects, which reconfigures the foundations of our old &#8220;ontology&#8221; and subjects us to continuous &#8220;<mark class=\"has-inline-color has-vivid-purple-color\">detachment<\/mark>&#8221; of our conceptual categories, reshaping our way of being in the world.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">These detachments bring with them a &#8220;<mark class=\"has-inline-color has-vivid-purple-color\">uprooting from analog senses<\/mark>,&#8221; where the anchor is lost &#8211; especially for those, like myself, who do not boast <strong>digital<\/strong> nativity in their demographics and are therefore &#8220;migrants&#8221; to the new dimension.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Space and time detach, and following, to mention only the most recognized, norm and territoriality, use and ownership, coexistence of action and agent, physicality and identity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">If for space we speak of the <mark class=\"has-inline-color has-vivid-purple-color\">infosphere<\/mark>, on the temporal axis, we are on the threshold of <mark class=\"has-inline-color has-vivid-purple-color\">Hyperhistory<\/mark>: in alliance with computer science, ICT becomes predominant over any other <strong>technology<\/strong>, so much so that human well-being and balance necessarily pass through our relationship with their &#8220;computational\/connective&#8221; power.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">This was not intended in the era of history, where writing evolved us from pre-history with meager traces and cave paintings: because it is from the multiplication of traces and signs<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">, from the exponential growth of our ability to leave remains, that transformation occurs, in this hysteresis that involves and &#8220;valorizes&#8221; everything.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">To avoid getting lost, puppets in the modern<mark class=\"has-inline-color has-vivid-purple-color\"> Vuca theatre<\/mark> where everything rushes and wanders, one must &#8220;resist&#8221; that <mark class=\"has-inline-color has-vivid-purple-color\">lightness<\/mark> and <mark class=\"has-inline-color has-vivid-purple-color\">evanescence<\/mark> that alarms against the &#8220;<mark class=\"has-inline-color has-vivid-purple-color\">distracted awareness<\/mark>&#8221; of <strong>digital<\/strong> phenomenology <sup>11<\/sup>, because without <mark class=\"has-inline-color has-vivid-purple-color\">awareness<\/mark>, goodbye <mark class=\"has-inline-color has-vivid-purple-color\">responsibility<\/mark>, and above all, bye bye <mark class=\"has-inline-color has-vivid-purple-color\">governance<\/mark>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">A term that recalls the need <mark class=\"has-inline-color has-vivid-purple-color\">to give a human center<\/mark> to what is on the air, <mark class=\"has-inline-color has-vivid-purple-color\">balancing<\/mark> development goals that impact on the economy, society, environment, creating complex plots that only the hands of Arachne <sup>12<\/sup> can dare to handle.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">For this reason, I believe that a curious and <mark class=\"has-inline-color has-vivid-purple-color\">transversal<\/mark> &#8220;technical-philosophical&#8221; perspective can help bring out the sense by extracting it, like <mark class=\"has-inline-color has-vivid-purple-color\">miners<\/mark> do with <strong>digital<\/strong> gold: a sense that is always in question wherever there is a technique\/<strong>technology<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">A sense that philosophy must contribute to questioning, investigating the &#8220;<mark class=\"has-inline-color has-vivid-purple-color\">phenomenology<\/mark>&#8221; of the &#8220;<strong>Digital<\/strong> Revolution&#8221;: seeking traces and guarding passages and transitions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">With a happy expression by Mauro Barberis <sup>13<\/sup>, a sort of <mark class=\"has-inline-color has-vivid-purple-color\">Gatekeeper<\/mark> philosophy, guardian of systematic reflections from multiple disciplines that connect and contaminate, involving finance and economics, law and medicine, engineering, biology, politics, sociology, and anthropology, ethics, and of course, computer science.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">This is the background in which <strong>Blockchain<\/strong> shines today, resonating with divine promises that retrodate to myth: immutability, irreversibility, for chains of blocks that aspire to be plausible anchors.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:30px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-dlt-and-blockchain-digital-anchors\">DLT and <strong>Blockchain<\/strong>: <strong>Digital<\/strong> Anchors<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">&#8220;Anchoring&#8221; myself to a minimal historiographical zeal, the advent of <mark class=\"has-inline-color has-vivid-purple-color\">decentralized<\/mark> &#8220;<mark class=\"has-inline-color has-vivid-purple-color\">Ledgers<\/mark>,&#8221; on whose disseminated morphology <strong>Blockchain<\/strong> undermines in the form of the Block, is linked to the Internet and the 90s: when the first countermeasures to overcome the danger of dreaded Denial of Service <sup>15<\/sup> attacks were discovered &#8211; with Hashcash <sup>14<\/sup>, for example.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In 2002, Mazi\u00e8res and Shasha introduced blocks as a data storage system on a network, and in 2005, Szabo was the first to propose a decentralized currency, named &#8220;bit gold.&#8221;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">But if terms like <strong>Blockchain<\/strong>, Hash, Fork, Proof of Work\/Proof of Stake emerge from technical niches and contaminate everyday language, it is thanks to Sakamoto.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Starting from his White Paper, they find fertile ground beyond the original financial context &#8211; guilty of the risk of cannibalization in a rough <strong>Blockchain<\/strong> = Bitcoin equation &#8211; into a variety of areas: all united by the need to ensure data security, streamlined processes, fraud minimization, and the protection of <strong>digital<\/strong> identity and privacy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">An identity still anonymous for the one who <sup>16<\/sup> solved the <mark class=\"has-inline-color has-vivid-purple-color\">double-spending<\/mark> <sup>17<\/sup> problem along with that of the <mark class=\"has-inline-color has-vivid-purple-color\">Byzantine Generals<\/mark>, borrowed from logic and Game Theory by computer science: a demonstration of how <strong>Blockchain<\/strong> is a frontier land for pioneers and explorers &#8211; from computer science to cryptography, from algorithms to modern computer science.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">And as a frontier land, understandable as it may unfortunately also allow refuge for smugglers and traffickers of extreme finance and <strong>digital<\/strong> money laundering, as seen by detractors who see a small but decisive crack in the system in the supremacy of stronger computational power.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Reality says that with Bitcoin, Sakamoto implemented the potential of <mark class=\"has-inline-color has-vivid-purple-color\">DLTs<\/mark> and <mark class=\"has-inline-color has-vivid-purple-color\">encrypted blocks<\/mark>, creating the first true decentralized cryptocurrency on <strong>Blockchain<\/strong> and legitimizing Bitcoin as the new technological gold: <strong>digital<\/strong> fiat <sup>18<\/sup> money to be mined on the wings of the punk anarchist revolutionary dream of total, transparent <sup>19<\/sup>, democratic decentralization and disintermediation, which raised its voice at the end of the colossal financial crisis of 2008.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">By definition, <strong>Blockchain<\/strong> <strong>technology<\/strong> falls under the broader category of <mark class=\"has-inline-color has-vivid-purple-color\">Distributed Ledger Technology<\/mark>: network systems based on a geographically distributed register in multiple nodes that have the same copy of the database, independently modifiable by them without a central authority.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">It presents itself as a data structure consisting of growing lists of records, called &#8220;blocks,&#8221; linked together by a cryptographic hash as a trace of the previous block; a timestamp and transaction data, combined in a concatenation where data, once inserted and recorded in the block, cannot be modified without causing alterations in the chain, which occur due to algorithmic adjustments based on consensus logics and cryptographic keys.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">It is, therefore, obvious that it is perfect for <mark class=\"has-inline-color has-vivid-purple-color\">preventing the risk of fraud<\/mark>, <mark class=\"has-inline-color has-vivid-purple-color\">tracking sales processes<\/mark>, and <mark class=\"has-inline-color has-vivid-purple-color\">avoiding scams<\/mark>, appearing as a decentralized register endowed with miraculously &#8220;divine&#8221; properties of immutability and irreversibility.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">And above all, it is <mark class=\"has-inline-color has-vivid-purple-color\">trustless<\/mark>, where agents do not need to trust each other but interact in the name of a machinist-technological trust that records transactions of both virtual and physical assets.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">There are two types:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ol class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><mark class=\"has-inline-color has-vivid-purple-color\">Permissioned ledger<\/mark>, where the network is private, and registration and authorization by a central entity or the network itself are required, generally institutions and large companies that need greater control thresholds.<br><br><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><mark class=\"has-inline-color has-vivid-purple-color\">Public<\/mark>: open and free networks where anyone can access without prior authorization, provided they respect the protocol.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><br><br><strong>Blockchain<\/strong> has withstood seasons of disillusionment winters and summers of easy infatuations and enthusiasms, where the weather has often been conditioned by the narrow association with mere Cryptocurrency: now the sun shines, especially for permissioned ones, on which the attention of the EU and the European Parliament is focused.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In conclusion, due to the proposed &#8220;mythological&#8221; juxtaposition, <strong>Blockchain<\/strong> is changing its skin and form: it perhaps leaves behind some of the subversive charge of the punk flag to defeat the <mark class=\"has-inline-color has-vivid-purple-color\">Surveillance Capitalism<\/mark><sup>20<\/sup> loudly proclaimed from various quarters, and in reality gives up something of the ideal of absolute transparency, which is the worse remedy for evil.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">It integrates, intersecting the different perspectives of the <strong>Digital<\/strong> Transformation with a metamorphic attitude worthy of Proteus <sup>21<\/sup>: it enables new applications, processes, and supply chains, thanks to that &#8220;<mark class=\"has-inline-color has-vivid-purple-color\">anchoring<\/mark>&#8221; <strong>digital<\/strong> <mark class=\"has-inline-color has-vivid-purple-color\">tracking<\/mark> that I hope to have unveiled in my own way, and that speaks of an almost boundless transversality, so much so that the WEF predicts that 10% of the global GDP could transit on this <strong>technology<\/strong> by 2030.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">And since light always needs darkness and freedom refers to the chain as a limit, I close in the name of H\u00f6lderlin and the splendid maxim that I make mine: &#8220;where danger is, grows also what saves.&#8221;<sup> 22<\/sup><\/p>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:30px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\" \/>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><sup>1<\/sup> A type of third-party technological service that provides external information to a smart contract deployed on the <strong>Blockchain<\/strong> to connect the exogenous to the chain in order to implement the conditions of the if clause followed by the automated execution then.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><sup>2<\/sup> <strong>Blockchain<\/strong>s and smart contracts cannot access off-chain data, i.e., data outside the network.<br>However, for many contractual agreements, it is crucial to have relevant information from the outside world to execute the agreement. Oracles come into play in <strong>blockchain<\/strong> since they offer a connection between off-chain and on-chain data. Oracles are essential within the <strong>blockchain<\/strong> ecosystem as they expand the scope in which smart contracts can operate. Without them, smart contracts would have very limited use, as they could only access data within their networks. It&#8217;s important to note that a <strong>blockchain<\/strong> oracle is not the data source itself but rather the layer that requests, verifies, and authenticates external data sources before transmitting the information. The data transmitted by oracles can take different forms: information about price, successful completion of a payment, or the temperature measured by a sensor.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><sup>3<\/sup> From the Greek, ancient Greek: \u03a0\u03c1\u03bf\u03bc\u03b7\u03b8\u03b5\u03cd\u03c2, Prom\u0113the\u00fas, &#8220;he who thinks ahead&#8221;: a central figure in Greek mythology, brother (he had 3) of Epimetheus, who instead is &#8220;he who thinks afterward.&#8221;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><sup>4<\/sup> Techniques in Greek.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><sup>5<\/sup> The practical-transformative intelligence of which she is a champion, as attested by her birth from Zeus&#8217;s skull. She had indeed swallowed Metis, pregnant with her, whom Zeus greatly feared as &#8220;intelligence.&#8221; For this reason, Athena, virginal and proud, rises as the emblem of Metis, of which our champion is the hero dearest to her, the Greek Odysseus\/Ulysses.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><sup>6<\/sup> When we return to being fools, precisely in-baculus without a stick, which precisely indicates in the original meaning something weak, feeble, infirm: one without a stick, needing it, appears fragile, powerless, without strength. Thus is the intelligence or judgment of a fool; it is not steady on its own legs, impotent.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><sup>7<\/sup> Floridi recognizes different layers and hierarchies of technologies depending on the different configurations of the user-intermediary-advisor triad, where first-order technologies &#8211; &#8220;earth that suggests the plow&#8221; or the sun that &#8220;promotes&#8221; the hat and sunglasses, or even the scorching sand that leads to the sandal &#8211; transition to technologies that suggest <strong>technology<\/strong> through <strong>technology<\/strong>, for those called third-order technologies. In the first order, they are placed in the middle, between humanity and nature, while in the second order, the used <strong>technology<\/strong> is placed in the middle between humanity and other <strong>technology<\/strong>, where above all, the screwdriver enlightens us to screw in a screw or a key compared to the lock. Second-order technologies have a certain degree of dependence on those of the first order, as demonstrated by a key that would be useless without a lock to open. Finally, the last step, <strong>technology<\/strong> positions itself as a means between <strong>technology<\/strong> and other <strong>technology<\/strong> for the most advanced ones, which deal with &#8220;removing&#8221; us from the process: think of self-driving cars that &#8220;drive themselves,&#8221; interacting with other cars and the road. It&#8217;s worth noting that this taxonomy is not fixed but contextual. For example, scissors are a first-order <strong>technology<\/strong> if they cut a rose and second-order if they cut paper. They can also be third-order if used by a robot cutting a piece of fabric in a factory. Furthermore, today <strong>technology<\/strong> and the user usually have an interface, and the same happens between it and the advisor, which today, with the spread of user-friendly culture, magnetizes attention to user needs. To delve into Floridi&#8217;s thought, see &#8220;The Fourth Revolution: How the Infosphere is Transforming the World&#8221; or &#8220;Ethics of Artificial Intelligence&#8221; or &#8220;Green&amp;Blue, Thinking the Infosphere.&#8221;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><sup>8<\/sup> In particular, I draw on the insights from the recently published text &#8220;Documanit\u00e0.&#8221;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><sup>9<\/sup> Steam, electricity, and early computing mark the three slow stages.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><sup>10<\/sup> Split between conscious and unconscious.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><sup>11<\/sup> Reference here to the philosopher Byung Chul Han and his recent popular works, including &#8220;The Society without Pain,&#8221; &#8220;Psychopolitics,&#8221; &#8220;The Disappearance of Rituals.&#8221;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><sup>12 <\/sup>Arachne was transformed into a spider for challenging Athena in weaving.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><sup>13<\/sup> Mauro Barberis, rector of the University of Udine.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><sup>14<\/sup> Proposed in 1997 by Adam Back to protect against DoS and limit email spam.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><sup>15<\/sup> A cyber attack that makes a network or service inaccessible.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><sup>16<\/sup> \u00a0Pseudonym concealing an identity still anonymous despite numerous speculations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><sup>17<\/sup> It is a risk associated with virtual currencies, specifically the possibility of spending the same amount multiple times, thereby increasing the number of circulating currencies and obtaining money illicitly. Centralized systems like payment circuits overcome this problem by relying on an intermediary. Decentralized systems like <strong>blockchain<\/strong>s, on the other hand, adopt consensus mechanisms like Proof-of-Work and Proof-of-Stake.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><sup>18<\/sup> \u00a0Fiat currency, the opposite of commodity money, is a national currency not anchored to the price of a commodity like gold or silver but whose value is intrinsic. The value of fiat money is largely tied to trust in the issuing authority, typically a state or central bank.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><sup>19<\/sup> And to which I add in the margin, unable to grant total approval, as too much transparency, let&#8217;s say, leads to death, just like darkness, while truth always resides in the unveilings that call for lights and shadows, chiaroscuros as life is.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><sup>20<\/sup> For the term, it&#8217;s right to mention the sociologist Shoshana Zuboff and her text.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><sup>21<\/sup> Proteus was a mythical Greek sea deity, probably of Egyptian origin, capable of changing shape through the depth of the sea and predicting the future to those who could capture him.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><sup>22<\/sup> From &#8220;Patmos,&#8221; a poem by H\u00f6lderlin from 1803.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Blockchain as technological innovation and transformation: myth, philosophy and potential of digital technology.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":233,"featured_media":17536,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":{"subtitle":"","format":"standard","video":"","gallery":"","source_name":"","source_url":"","via_name":"","via_url":"","override_template":"0","override":[{"template":"2","single_blog_custom":"","parallax":"1","fullscreen":"0","layout":"right-sidebar","sidebar":"default-sidebar","second_sidebar":"default-sidebar","sticky_sidebar":"1","share_position":"float","share_float_style":"share-normal","show_share_counter":"1","show_view_counter":"1","show_featured":"1","show_post_meta":"1","show_post_author":"1","show_post_author_image":"1","show_post_date":"1","post_date_format":"default","post_date_format_custom":"Y\/m\/d","show_post_category":"1","show_post_reading_time":"1","post_reading_time_wpm":"300","show_zoom_button":"1","zoom_button_out_step":"2","zoom_button_in_step":"3","show_post_tag":"1","show_prev_next_post":"0","show_popup_post":"1","number_popup_post":"1","show_author_box":"1","show_post_related":"1","show_inline_post_related":"0"}],"override_image_size":"0","image_override":[{"single_post_thumbnail_size":"no-crop","single_post_gallery_size":"crop-715"}],"trending_post":"0","trending_post_position":"meta","trending_post_label":"Trending","sponsored_post":"0","sponsored_post_label":"Sponsored by","sponsored_post_name":"","sponsored_post_url":"","sponsored_post_logo_enable":"0","sponsored_post_logo":"","sponsored_post_desc":"","disable_ad":"0"},"jnews_primary_category":{"id":"","hide":""},"jnews_social_meta":{"fb_title":"","fb_description":"","fb_image":"","twitter_title":"","twitter_description":"","twitter_image":""},"footnotes":""},"categories":[525],"tags":[794,820,800,170,804,808,62,824,183,185,160,177,147,812],"coauthors":[1080],"class_list":["post-17274","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-real-applications-en","tag-ai-eng","tag-artificial-intelligence","tag-bitcoin-en","tag-blockchain-en","tag-crypto-en","tag-exchange-en","tag-ledger","tag-miners-en","tag-pos-en","tag-proof-of-stake-en","tag-proof-of-work","tag-smart-contracts-en","tag-transaction","tag-trust"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/affidaty.io\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17274","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/affidaty.io\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/affidaty.io\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/affidaty.io\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/233"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/affidaty.io\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=17274"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/affidaty.io\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17274\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/affidaty.io\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/17536"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/affidaty.io\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=17274"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/affidaty.io\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=17274"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/affidaty.io\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=17274"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/affidaty.io\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=17274"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}