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The Latest Course Catalog Trend? Blockchain 101 (wired.com)
An anonymous reader shares a report: On a clear, warm night earlier this year, several dozen University of California, Berkeley students folded themselves into gray chairs for a three-hour class on how to think like blockchain entrepreneurs. The evening's challenge, presented by Berkeley City Councilmember Ben Bartlett, was to brainstorm how blockchain technology might be used to alleviate the city's growing homeless problem.
"We have at least 1,400 homeless people in our city, and that includes many right here at UC Berkeley," Bartlett told the class. "So how can we use blockchain to fund a new prosperity? That's a challenge I'd like you to take on." The course, taught by visiting professor and former venture capitalist Po Chi Wu, is among a growing number of classes and research initiatives on blockchain technology emerging at universities. Blockchain -- a method for creating and maintaining a global ledger of transactions that doesn't require a third-party middleman such as a bank, government or corporation -- is best known for its role in powering the virtual currency bitcoin. Applications for the technology are springing up in sectors including retail, humanitarian aid, real estate and finance. Although some analysts believe blockchain won't gain widespread adoption for another five or 10 years, companies like IBM, Facebook and Google are investing heavily in the technology -- and universities are taking note.
New York University, Georgetown and Stanford are among the institutions that offer blockchain technology courses to get students thinking about its potential uses and to better prepare them for the workforce. Job postings requiring blockchain skills ballooned by 200 percent in the first five months of this year, compared with the same period a year earlier, though they remain less than 1 percent of software development jobs, according to the research firm Burning Glass Technologies. Universities including MIT, Cornell, and Columbia are launching labs and research centers to explore the technology and its policy implications and seed the development of rigorous curricula on the topic.
"We have at least 1,400 homeless people in our city, and that includes many right here at UC Berkeley," Bartlett told the class. "So how can we use blockchain to fund a new prosperity? That's a challenge I'd like you to take on." The course, taught by visiting professor and former venture capitalist Po Chi Wu, is among a growing number of classes and research initiatives on blockchain technology emerging at universities. Blockchain -- a method for creating and maintaining a global ledger of transactions that doesn't require a third-party middleman such as a bank, government or corporation -- is best known for its role in powering the virtual currency bitcoin. Applications for the technology are springing up in sectors including retail, humanitarian aid, real estate and finance. Although some analysts believe blockchain won't gain widespread adoption for another five or 10 years, companies like IBM, Facebook and Google are investing heavily in the technology -- and universities are taking note.
New York University, Georgetown and Stanford are among the institutions that offer blockchain technology courses to get students thinking about its potential uses and to better prepare them for the workforce. Job postings requiring blockchain skills ballooned by 200 percent in the first five months of this year, compared with the same period a year earlier, though they remain less than 1 percent of software development jobs, according to the research firm Burning Glass Technologies. Universities including MIT, Cornell, and Columbia are launching labs and research centers to explore the technology and its policy implications and seed the development of rigorous curricula on the topic.
Is it more important to do something to help the homeless, or to develop a viable use case for blockchain?
If helping the homeless is more important, then why limit the potential solutions to ones involving blockchain?
If developing a viable use case for blockchain is more important, then why limit the problem to the homeless?
It's bullshit like this that just turns people off and reduces credibility. If you want to solve a problem, then SOLVE THE PROBLEM! If you just want to highlight some technology, then at least be honest about it.
how to think like blockchain entrepreneurs
1) Say "blockchain" a lot.
2) Come up with some bogus online service that people will pay for by crypto coin. Storage, social media something something, distributed music bla bla, fan reward collectible dingus, etc.
3) Set up your coin. Pre-mine or pre-assign plenty of coins to the company "for future allocations"
4) Flog your shitty service online. A paralax scrolling website is essential, as are thin fonts. Do not present any meaningful information! (Not that you had any)
5) Once your coin hits a decent price on the exchanges, sell your stash and announce that your coins were "stolen by a hacker"
6) Fold. And profit.
If construction was anything like programming, an incorrectly fitted lock would bring down the entire building...
If people actually find out what it does and how it works they will realize how small a niche it really fills.
Nullius in verba