class: center, middle, inverse, title-slide # Magic Internet Money? ## How Blockchain Technology Could Revolutionize the 21<sup>st</sup> Century Economy ### Dr. Ryan Safner ### Phi Kappa Phi Lecture </br> Hood College </br> May 5, 2019 --- # Amara's Law .center[] ??? Second-order consequences in long run: electricity, Walmart, urban sprawl and ex-urbanization, etc I want to walk about a new invention, blockchain Next: we can understand the advanced tech of blockchain through its most famous application: --- class: inverse, center, middle # BITCOIN --- # Bitcoin .pull-left[.center[]] -- .pull-right[.center[]] ??? Invented in 2008 as a peer-to-peer cryptocurrency that would replace the dollar amidst the financial crisis Title of talk, online sub-reddit community for bitcoin enthusiasts I am an economist, not a computer scientist Don't ask me about one-way cryptographic hash functions --- class: blank background-image: url(https://www.dropbox.com/s/dg69zmfgg020onj/bitcoinpriceapril2019.png?raw=1) background-position: 50% 50% --- # Cryptocurrencies .center[ ] ??? Two things: 1. Bitcoin is far from the only application of this tech 2. A large amount of capital is being poured into this industry --- class: inverse, center, middle # SOME DEFINITIONS ??? The way we often understand new technologies is with metaphors about old technologies horse-less carriages --- # Wallet: "stores" Bitcoins .center[] --- # Wallet as "username" and "password" .center[] .center[] --- # Node: runs the software ](https://www.dropbox.com/s/jb9k2kdt5dpo2ik/bitcoinnodesapril2019.png?raw=1) --- # Miner: verifies transactions .center[.image-50[]] --- # Blockchain: the public ledger .center[.image-75[]] --- class: inverse, center, middle # THE ARGUMENT FOR DECENTRALIZATION --- # Decentralization reduces failure points  --- # Centralization requires trust .center[] --- # Decentralization is open source .center[.image-75[]] --- # Decentralization is accessible .center[] --- # Decentralization is secure .center[] --- class: inverse, center, middle # Beyond Bitcoin: Blockchain Technology and its Applications --- # Blockchain Technology .center[.image-75[]] --- # Blockchain for Identity .center[] --- # Blockchain for Identity  --- # Blockchain for Voting .center[.image-75[]] --- # Blockchain for Media .center[.image-75[]] --- # Blockchain for Food (Safety) .center[.image-75[]] --- # Blockchain for Food (Safety) .center[] --- class: inverse, center, middle # Smart Contracts --- # Political Economy Since Hobbes .right-column[ ### "Covenants, without the Sword, are but Words, and of no strength to secure a man at all." ### *Leviathan* (1651), Ch. XVII] .left-column[.center[ ### Thomas Hobbes ### 1588-1679] ] --- class: blank .center[] --- # To Enforce Contracts, We Trust in Centralized Institutions... .center[.image-75[]] --- # ...That Can Be Corrupted .center[.image-50[]] --- # Smart Contracts: Self-Enforcing Credible Commitments .center[.image-50[]] --- # Smart Property .center[.image-50[]] --- # The Tip of the Iceberg .center[.image-50[]] ??? Horse-less carriage problem --- class: blankgray, center, middle # Thanks for listening! .logo-left[]