Technology with Time
In search of more, we advanced our technology with time. As we grew older, they grew updated.
The term technology that we saw with glasses of innovation always revolves around time. As in past, there was a time when for typing there was a typewriter, to communicate with each other there was wired telephone connection and in the same order to store and save data and information, a thick diary was used before computers.
But with time and obviously with innovation in technology successors of their ancestors came to light and people started updating uses of technology in day-to-day life. In this process of timely updation, we found a new technology for storing data and information and decentralisation of same and purchases made online Block-chain. A term whose purpose is to record information and data in such a way that no one could corrupt or hack.
This digital system allows many different types of information to store but most commonly it has been used as a ledger for transactions, so it is also known as a digital ledger. Creating a kind of decentralisation as transactions are done with the mutual consensus of users across the network. Blockchain collects information together in groups known as ‘blocks’ that holds a set of information. Blocks have certain storage capacities and, when filled, are closed and linked to the previously filled block, forming a chain of data known as the Block-chain. All new information that follows that freshly added block is compiled into a newly formed block that will then also be added to the chain once filled.
A database usually structures its data into tables whereas a Blockchain, like its name implies, structures its data into chunks (blocks) that are strung together. This data structure inherently makes an irreversible timeline of data when implemented in a decentralized nature. When a block is filled it is set in stone and becomes a part of this timeline. Each block in the chain is given an exact timestamp when it is added to the chain.
Bitcoin vs. Blockchain
Blockchain technology was first outlined in 1991 by W. Scott Stornetta and Stuart Haber, two researchers who wanted to implement a system where document timestamps could not be tampered with. But it wasn’t until almost two decades later, with the launch of Bitcoin in 2009, that blockchain had its first real-world application.
The key thing to understand here is that Bitcoin merely uses blockchain as a means to transparently record a ledger of payments, but blockchain can, in theory, be used to immutably record any number of data points. As discussed above, this could be in the form of transactions, votes in an election, product inventories, state identifications, deeds to homes, and much more.
Currently, there are thousands of projects out there looking to implement blockchains in a variety of ways to help society other than just recording transactions. For example, to use blockchains as a way to vote securely in democratic elections. The nature of blockchain’s immutability means that fraudulent voting would become far more difficult to occur. For example, a voting system could work such that each citizen of a country would be issued a single cryptocurrency or token. Each candidate would then be given a specific wallet address, and the voters would send their token or crypto to whichever candidate’s address they wish to vote for. The transparent and traceable nature of blockchain would eliminate the need for human vote counting as well as the ability of bad actors to tamper with physical ballots.
The rapid progress of Blockchain technology is showing no signs of slowing down. In the past few decades, many things that seemed impossible have turned out to be possible, such as high transaction fees, double spending, net fraud, retrieving lost data, etc. But, now all this can be avoided with the help of Blockchain Technology.