How Blockchain Is Bigger Than The Internet And Will Change Humanity For The Better

Blockchain is going to be the biggest social revolution of our time after the internet and computers. A self regulating and decentralized society without authority and hierarchy, it will eventually encompass all facets of one’s life. No longer you will have to rely on a single entity, suffer system breakdowns or hacking attacks. Blockchain gives the control over personal information back to the individual where it belongs.

What is a Blockchain?

Blockchain is defined as a decentralized and an incorruptible distributed digital ledger that is used to record transactions across many computers.

Simply put a Blockchain is a log of activity that is time-stamped, tamper-proof and shared across a network of computers. Each transaction that goes into the log of activity is enclosed in a block and linked together in chronological order to form a chain, giving it the name Blockchain. The transactions are secured through cryptography. The transactions cannot be altered retroactively without the alteration of all subsequent blocks and the collusion of the network.

Blockchain can be designed to record virtually everthing of value and not just financial transactions.

Here’s how Blockchain will evolve to be used for a wide variety of applications or use cases…

Identity Management

• Self-sovereign identity or the idea that individuals can control their personal data no matter where they are, could be a reality for the first time.
• Each individual or entity can have a identity structure which can never be stolen or falsified.
• Each of the attributes of a individual or entity can be verified or signed by the stake holders. A government can sign that a individual has a passport or a student can have his degree signed off by his college proving that his degree is genuine.
• The individual or entity can share or provide access information to other individuals or entities as per their need.
• You can monetize your own data by opening yourself to advertisements and getting paid for it instead of someone making money of your data.

For e.g A individual’s identity can have the following attributes.

Document Management

Just like identity management, all documents can be stored and managed securely on the Blockchain. No document can be ever forged or altered again because you can track the document to the source as everybody can see when and by whom it was signed. Also a document can only be issued to a person or entity whose identity is verified on the Blockchain.

Before a document is produced, transactions are verified through consensus by the various stakeholders from the moment a child is born and shared as per the need securely which cryptography ensures. Any changes are also confirmed mutually by the participants.

Here’s how various Blockchain records for documents can happen in the future for various events in a person’s life. Note a Blockchain record itself can be considered a document or proof of a document.

Birth records:

• A hospital can create a Blockchain record when a child is born with the date of birth and place of birth along with the name of the parents/caregivers.
• The parents can create their child’s Blockchain record and get it signed of by the hospital.
• The agency issuing a birth certificate can verify with the hospital’s Blockchain record before issuing the birth certificate.

Education related documents:

• The school where the child goes can verify the child’s record by the Blockchain record issued to the school by the parents.
• All the school records can be on the Blockchain verified by the school and accessible only by the student, parents or guardians.
• The degree or diploma or certificate that a student has passed the course can be a Blockchain record.
• The Blockchain record can also be a Students Identity Card while pursuing his education at a institution.

Driver’s License/Passport:

• The child after he becomes an adult can easily apply for this driver’s license or passport using his verified Blockchain record.
• The agencies issuing these documents can issue them after viewing the Blockchain record.

Death records:

• Hospitals or Police or Church can record the death of a person as a Blockchain record.
• This will ensure the Blockchain record of the deceased person can longer be used.

No more Identity Theft

• Self-sovereign identity will put an end to identity theft.
• Identity thieves can longer steal identities without leaving a digital trail.
• A Blockchain ledger’s immutable record will empower individuals to take charge of all the information tied to their identity and ensure its accuracy over time.
• Credit cards issuers and other documents which requires verification will be issued only after there is verified Blockchain identity record and it will be shipped to the verified address on the Blockchain.

Voting Systems

• A person who has his identity on the Blockchain verified is assured that he is the real deal and has the right to vote.
• This will result in a system of voting where no one can be denied their voting rights if they are a citizen.
• Every vote will be counted because a vote is a Blockchain record that cannot be tampered with and no vote can ever be forged or vote twice.
• This will restore people’s faith in democracies. No rigged voting, no corruption, no outside meddling in elections.

Social Media Transformation

It can transform social media in many ways.

• You can no longer have duplicate accounts or accounts pretending they are a country’s citizens when they posting from another country like on Twitter or Facebook. Your identity cannot be forged. The person behind the identity will always be the real verified individual or entity.
• No one can police your views or suspend your account.
• At the same time you will be accountable for your actions online. You cannot hide behind a anonymous mask or you will not be taken seriously.

Healthcare Systems

Providers, Payers, Patients can all use the Blockchain for their various needs.

• Blockchain gives patients more control over their sensitive medical information, a hospital’s ability to streamline and share it, and everybody’s ability to protect it.
• A patient can have his sensitive medical information or EHR (electronic health record) secured by his signature and will only release it to the provider he wants. The provider before receiving the information will have to prove that he is the patient’s provider. The payer can pay the claim to the provider after the provider is authenticated based on the contract the patient is a member of and the benefits he is eligible for.
• Most of the redundant healthcare processing costs can be eliminated with the usage of Blockchain.

Trading Platforms

• You can securely buy and sell goods and services with verified people without the need for intermediaries.
• You can do your stocks or futures trading without needing to pay brokers.

Payment Processing

• Will be easier to compensate people for their services with crypto currencies.
• Also there will be no need of intermediaries who charge costly fees for moving money from one place to another.

Blockchain Search Engine

• Today Google’s algorithms decide what you can see when you search on the internet.
• But a Blockchain search engine instead of relying on a central index and ranking system will rely on a distributed search engine which relies on a network of computers each of them having their own index and ranking without a single point of control.
• The manipulation in search will be eliminated and ad based search will be a thing of the past.

Legal Records

• Property rights can never be tampered with every again on the Blockchain as it will be immutable.
• Wills can be stored as a digital asset and cannot be tampered with,

News Media

• Blockchain allows a individual or news media to report news in realtime
• Unlike Twitter/FaceBook you will be accountable if you spread fake news, because the source can always be tracked.
• Blockchain will give credibility to news folks as they will be very careful to post news, before it is verified.

Supply Chain Management

• Logistics based on the Blockchain network allows you to track and manage the path a product takes from supplier to supermarket, storing all data on the Blockchain.

Crowd Funding Systems

• You will no longer need any banks or any middlemen to raise funds for a project who take a cut of your funds.

Steps to create a Blockchain

• Decide the use case you will need the Blockchain for
• Create smart contracts
• Connect to Blockchain environments
• Build your Blockchain Platform instance.

Blockchain Platforms

Blockchain technology was made popular by the Bitcoin digital currency system. Digital currency is just one of the many uses of Blockchain. There are several Blockchain platforms which use Blockchain technology.

• Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM)
• Hyperledger Fabric
• BigChainDB
• And many more

The Future of Blockchain

Just like in the early days of the internet, Blockchain digital assets and token based networks are

• Disrupting existing service providers
• Creating new business models
• Enabling new applications
• Lowering the cost of delivery of products and services by rooting out inefficiencies.

And if you are idealistic about what Blockchain can bring about..

• You can start imagining a world without politicians and corrupt leaders. No use of leaders or authority because of the self regulating nature of Blockchain
• No more wars or divisions.
• It will reduce or eliminate uncertainity in various areas.
• Efficient use of resources
• Instead of redistribution, it will be a world of predistribution.
• Everyone will have something to do or what you would call a job for the betterment of humanity
• Education will be free for everybody who is willing to learn. We are already gettting there with knowledge and skills being freely distributed via the internet. But Blockchain will solidify it.
• End the dominance of FaceBook, Twitter, Google

Decentralization through Blockchain adoption will eventually end the dominance of the world by the few and will get us closer to nature.