Platform Revolution: Blockchain Technology as the Operating System of the Digital Age

Length: 336 pages
Edition: 1
Language: English
Publisher: Barlow Publishing
Publication Date: 2021-11-01
ISBN-10: 1988025737
ISBN-13: 9781988025735
Sales Rank: #65059 (See Top 100 Books)

The first era of the digital age spanned mainframes, minicomputers, the personal computer, the Internet, the World Wide Web, social media, mobility, the cloud, and big data. We’re now entering a second era where digital technologies permeate everything. Such inventions as machine learning, robotics, drones, software robots or “bots,” process automation, and additive manufacturing are accelerating new types of platforms on which to build digital engines of the global economy. This second era has weighty implications for enterprise strategy and architecture. New business models will disrupt most industries and provide platforms for innovation for decades to come. This book looks at blockchain technologies as foundational to the governance and widespread adoption of these innovations—digital identities, data analytics, artificial intelligence, the Internet of Things, autonomous vehicles, distributed energy infrastructure, and quantum computing. Every organization can finally become a truly digital entity if its leaders are prepared. This book is designed to prepare them for the waves of creative destruction ahead.

Cover
Copyright
Contents
List of Contributors
Preface
Chapter 1 | Saving the Web
    Securing the Web in brief
    Introduction
    The first ideal: Open access
        What is the open access ideal?
        How has the Web excluded potential users?
        Can blockchain technology improve access?
        Views of access from the decentralized future
    The second ideal: Fair participation
        What is the fair participation ideal?
        How has the Web permitted bias?
        Can blockchain technology promote fairness?
        Views of neutrality from the decentralized future
    The third ideal: Self-sovereignty
        What is the self-sovereignty ideal?
        How has the Web threatened self-sovereignty?
        Can blockchain technology ensure self-sovereignty?
        Views of sovereignty from the decentralized future
    Conclusions and recommendations
Chapter 2 | The Convergence of Big Data and Blockchain
    Big data and blockchains in brief
    Introduction
        Challenges for organizations
        Challenges for consumers
    Blockchain and big data
        How Telstra applies blockchain to secure smart home systems
        Data sharing
        Data governance
        Data security
        Data privacy and identity
        Data ownership
    Shifting attitudes and policies
    Conclusions and recommendations
        What executives should keep in mind
        What organizations can do today
Chapter 3 | Distributed Artificial Intelligence
    Distributed AI in brief
    What is artificial intelligence?
        Training data
        AI and centralization
    Blockchains and artificial intelligence
        Immutability
        Blockchain and democratization
        Smart contracts
        Blockchain governance
    Decentralized artificial intelligence
        Distributed AI versus decentralized AI
        DAI and blockchain’s role
        Autonomous agents as AI representatives?
        Looking to the future: DAO
    Challenges with blockchain networks
        Scalability
        Governance
    Conclusion and recommendations
Chapter 4 | The Ledger of Every Thing
    Blockchain and IoT in brief
    Introduction
        What is the Internet of Things?
        Typical architecture of an IoT deployment
    Blockchains and IoT
        Challenges of centralized IoT and what blockchains can do
        Limitations of blockchains for the IoT
    Implementing blockchains for IoT
        Present and future proof integration architecture
        Private blockchains
        Guidelines for durable IoT systems
    Conclusions and recommendations
    Editor’s note
Chapter 5 | Autonomous Vehicles and Blockchain
    Networked autonomous vehicles in brief
    State of our international highway network
        An industry-wide pivot
        The blessing and curse of autonomy
    Blockchain as a transportation platform
        Toll roads: Early blockchain-based vehicle value transfer system
        Mobile Open Blockchain Initiative
    Implementation considerations
        Blockchain latency and scalability
        Communications network latency
        Immutable records versus privacy
        Device security
        Legal and ethical implications
    Looking to the future
        A true sharing economy
        Flying cars
    Conclusions
Chapter 6 | Slock.It
    Universal sharing network in brief
    The problem to be solved
    Slock.it’s solution
        DAO: The hope, the hack, and the hard fork
        Culture reboot: Grounded in practical applications
        Radical transparency: The universal sharing network
        Postscript to the case
    Key takeaways
Chapter 7 | Quantum-Proofing the Blockchain
    Quantum threat and defense in brief
    Introduction to the quantum threat
    A story from the year 2030
    The issue: Blockchain is not entirely quantum safe
    Analysis of our options
        An abstract model of the blockchain
        Ways of patching the blockchain
        Designing quantum-resistant blockchains from scratch
        Flavors of quantum adversaries
        Quantum-proofing existing blockchains
        Performance analysis
    What the experts say about blockchain security
    Conclusions and recommendations
Chapter 8 | Standardized and Decentralized?
    Standardization imperative in brief
    An origin story
    Why standardize?
        Network effects
        Outsized economic gains
    How does the “standardization” model apply to blockchain?
    Semantic standardization: Defining the blockchain stack
        Beyond Bitcoin
        Subdivision of the blockchain layer
        Redefining overlay networks
        Connecting applications to protocols
        Adding end-to-end completeness
        The modern blockchain stack
    Technological standardization: Decentralized unanimity
        Core protocol layer: Ethereum Classic and Bitcoin Cash
        Consensus layer: Proof of work and proof of stake
        Economic layer: The ERC-20 token standard
    Recommendations for standardizing decentralized technology
        Relentlessly pursue semantic standardization
        Make better stuff than anyone else
        Reconsider waging a decentralized standards war
        Resist consensus for consensus’ sake
    Conclusions
Acronyms and Abbreviations
About the Blockchain Research Institute
About the Contributors
Acknowledgments
Notes
Index
Back Cover