The blockchain is on fire again.

The Internet has become Victoria's secret runway. Big bosses wear scientific underwear, pose sexy, and their legs flutter and shine in the wind.

At the end of 20 17, the blockchain became the sexiest little interior. People from all walks of life have one, some wear it in their crotch, some wear it on their heads, and some put it in a pole as a flag.

Staring at the smart contract code on the screen, I feel a little disappointed. I'm not on the runway or on the stage. I am in an office with insufficient heating, wearing a down jacket that has nothing to do with sexiness.

I met Aunt Niu in the community this morning. She grabbed me and earnestly warned me not to write Java, but to engage in blockchain. Concept stocks are crazy. It was 7 o'clock in the morning, and the cold in the community was-10 degrees, but there was a strange smell in the air, which smelled full of vitality. It is likely that the exhaust gas from the natural gas boiler contains some kind of stimulant.

I feel powerless and helpless. This heat has nothing to do with me. A few lines of my smart contract code have no contribution to the 20 17 network celebrity blockchain. Once again, the big men on the runway didn't ask me to "go with them" as usual!

The blockchain fire is puzzling, as if in an instant, the situation a few months ago was completely different. At that time, artificial intelligence was the protagonist, and the blockchain was like a daughter-in-law married to a family in Shandong, and it was not allowed to go to the table. Once at the dinner table, a VC tycoon (not too big, not too big) introduced his investment direction: "It must be artificial intelligence, but blockchain can't." His eyes were fixed on me, bright and eager. I looked down, a little ashamed. If this is on the Weibo, I will die. You can look down on me, but you can't look down on my skills, can you?

However, just recently, this big boss (neither too big nor too big) began to turn over the articles about Ma and commented: "Profound, good! Change the blockchain of the world! " . I don't know if this big man (not too big, not too big) will also play the blockchain brand.

I have always suspected that there is a mysterious "Internet terminology hype committee", that is, they are making waves and hyping various concepts ..... and the VC tycoon I met (neither too big nor too big) is probably not in this committee.

Artificial intelligence VS blockchain, who should eat chicken?

Artificial intelligence and blockchain can be described as unparalleled arrogance and have become the two hottest concepts in recent years.

If you have to compare, artificial intelligence and blockchain, who is more awesome?

When it comes to artificial intelligence, human beings will tremble and say that they are afraid of being cleaned up by machines one day. Kind of like a domestic pet dog. When it sees a fly with a broken wing, it is like an enemy, barking and jumping. Actually, it's usually too boring. Find a chance to scare yourself. Whether it's artificial intelligence or robots, let alone cleaning up humans. It's still early to clean up a fly. Let's look forward to it in a hundred years. I think China's GDP is the highest in the galaxy, and it will come earlier than self-conscious artificial intelligence.

When it comes to blockchain, it is the centralized authorities, including the government, that are trembling. This is really not a dog's game of catching flies. Think about it, how much wealth is hidden in the bitcoin chain now, and governments all over the world are very helpless, helpless and annoying. Flies are also meat. Seeing that flies are getting fatter and fatter, the puppy is worried to death.

Therefore, in the long run, artificial intelligence must be much more powerful. The baton of future technology is to be handed over to AI from human hands. Isn't this AI smelly enough?

But in the near future, the significance of blockchain will be even more significant, because the goal it changes is the organizational model of human beings.

Blockchain decentralization capability; Blockchain establishes a trust network; Blockchain uses code to convey value; Blockchain coordinates the dialogue between machines; Blockchain realizes community autonomy. There has never been a savior or an immortal emperor-this lyric can be given to the blockchain. In the past thousands of years, the operation of society depends entirely on the arrangement of centralized authoritarian institutions. Now, there is finally a glimmer of light on the horizon of science and technology. ......

No matter what it is, in the eyes of the Chinese nation, the first question is: can this thing be eaten? The second question is: can this thing make money?

Blockchain can't be eaten naturally. I don't need to answer this. Ask your Guangdong friends around you. I want to ask which is more profitable, artificial intelligence or blockchain. I really can't answer it, and Cantonese people don't know. This question should be asked to the VC boss (not too big, not too big).

Satoshi Nakamoto's "peer-to-peer electronic cash system" is really not about money. Those big (really big, big) buddies in the cryptopunk group are real anti-thieves, and they just want to fight the government! This is a feeling of pursuing freedom. As early as RSA's three buddies, as long as they are engaged in cryptography and are not in the US government system, which one is not a thorn in the side of the US government? This is also related to the US government. If it is another government, my god, the blood is cold and the graves are covered with grass.

There is also a wave of big (really big) brothers, who are Mises and Hayek and a group of economists who are deeply hostile to governments. Hayek believes that the right to issue money should not be monopolized by the government, which has no ability to control the issue of money at all, and the issue of money should be handed over to the free market. Let the government issue money, just like let the mice cook good food. One is that mice can't cook at all, and the other is that mice can steal raw materials. Hayek said: Anyone can issue currency, and multiple currencies should be allowed to compete freely in the market.

Hayek's consistent core idea is that there has never been a savior, and there is no immortal emperor who can formulate and control the rules of economic operation. These rules evolved unconsciously in the free market.

Leave it to the free market, there are some things that human beings can't understand and operate well.

Hayek's core idea is also the core idea of artificial intelligence and blockchain. What a coincidence? Because, awesome people all have the same idea, and people who are not awesome all have their own ideas.

Artificial intelligence says this function is too complicated for humans to find. Let the machine find many linear functions to fit and give them to the machine.

Blockchain said that it is really not at ease to entrust this kind of thing to human beings. Let the machine execute the agreed rules.

Giving power to machines is the same philosophy as artificial intelligence and blockchain.

Having said that, we can pointedly and wisely point out that artificial intelligence and blockchain are actually doing the same thing. Blockchain paves the way for machines in organizational form. Artificial intelligence paves the way for machines in ability. The organizational forms and abilities of human beings are too old. It is time to make some changes for the future machine civilization.

For developers, blockchain is easier to get started. Artificial intelligence is too troublesome, it needs data and graphics cards, as well as modeling and debugging effects. So, poor programmers, if you want to make small money, go to the blockchain. Programmers who have dreams and are eager to make big money, please turn right. On the right is the artificial intelligence channel. Please close your eyes. Go quickly, one, two, three, jump!

Blockchain, what can you do?

At this stage, what is the most appropriate usage of blockchain? My answer is marketing! In other words, it is used to fool, which is the most appropriate.

It is said that there are now 5,000 companies in the country related to blockchain. It is also said that there are 200 developers in the country who can develop blockchain.

I don't think these two figures are very reliable. I think it is more reliable to say that the bosses of 5000 companies across the country have read popular science articles about blockchain in the circle of friends, so their companies are all related to blockchain. As for developers, they can run Hyperledger and Ethereum and write a few lines of smart contracts. There must be 5,000 people in the country.

He also said that I think this statement is more reliable, that is, in 20 17 years, the revenue brought by blockchain technology will not exceed 1 100 million RMB.

So just listen to the overwhelming publicity now, and don't take it too seriously. At this stage, this kind of publicity is not a bad thing, but also promotes the development of the industry. Four people in a sedan chair and a thousand people shouting can always be faster, and cheerleading is not without contribution.

In addition, the development of blockchain has indeed been promoted. 50,000 people asked me: What can I do with the blockchain?

After being fooled, everyone began to stare at the centralized system in their home, and waves of questions flowed in their eyes. Just like the beginning of a new season, women will look at their closets.

In fact, we don't have to like the new and hate the old at all. What the blockchain wants to kill is the centralized "organization", not the centralized "system". How to use your OA? There is no need to engage in blockchain for your own OA system. Just like your family business, you have to vote for the chairman. You're crazy.

To use blockchain, you must first think about who you want to know and in which industry? Who do you want to gain "mutual trust" with and in which link?

The core is "knowledge".

Of course, the blockchain promoted by Ethereum will never stop. But in my opinion, it's really not that important. The centralization system has been completed, and it is almost endless.

Give an example of blockchain application. A common and easy-to-understand example is the scene of signing a contract. Are we signing a contract now, or do we rely on a paper contract? The paper contract is signed and sealed, and then two copies are made, one for each party. This happened in the real world, an achievement of "* * * knowledge".

"Paper" and "signature and seal", this is to prevent tampering. And "duplicate" is distributed storage.

The process of signing a paper contract should be perfectly realized by software, that is blockchain. The "paper signature and seal" of blockchain is realized by technologies such as timestamp, hash operation and asymmetric encryption signature. And "distributed storage" is accomplished by POW, POS *** identification algorithm and P2P protocol.

The software implementation of the above whole process is the result of a "* * * knowledge" of blockchain.

With the development of IT technology and Internet technology, cash has been replaced by electronic payment, but the contract has always been a long-standing problem, and the paper contract process has always been stubborn. Now, the blockchain is subverting the stubborn scene of paper contracts.

Give another example. The scene of overall intercommunication. I don't know why, at the end of 20 17, doing points suddenly became popular, and every household had to do points. I guess privately, I'm afraid that some kings of Chu have a narrow waist, and their sacred will has been cracked by the Internet Terminology Speculation Committee. In the early years, our "work score" was just an integral.

Of course, business points are very mature in many countries. For enterprises, integral is a good customer loyalty management tool, but it has not been done in China, so developing commercial integral is a good direction.

Here is an example. Both companies A and B have issued their own points, which are called A points and B points. These two companies want to use points, so that consumers can use the points of A in B and B in A. ..

This leads to a scene where a consumer goes to enterprise B under the lamp and buys a Porsche with A's 1 10,000 points. Under the traditional centralized system, the system of enterprise B needs to be connected to A's system through API to verify the identity and points of the mouse under the lamp. Upon verification, the system requesting A will consume 6,543.8+00,000 A points, and with the consent of A, the system record B of A will consume 6,543.8+00,000 points. B recorded in its own database, and received 654.38+00000.

By the end of the month, B took the statement of 654.38+00,000 points to find A to settle the account. A queries in the database and confirms that B has 654.38+00,000 points, OK, and the settlement is successful.

The question is, what if A doesn't recognize 654.38+00000 points? What about denial? A What if I change my own database? If it's a little more complicated, many enterprises participate, and B receives A's points, it can also go to C and spend A's points. What should I do?

Blockchain can solve this problem perfectly. Enterprises A and B realize near-real-time integral trading through alliance chain. There is no need for reconciliation at the end of the month. At any time, the blockchain data of A and B are consistent.

Some developers have to walk into a dead end: I use the traditional centralized system to ensure the consistency of the database.

Of course you can. But as long as you do it perfectly, make the databases of A and B completely consistent, and solve various possible problems, then you are actually developing a blockchain.

Between many parties, achieving "trust" and "* * * knowledge" is where the blockchain plays a role.

Satoshi Nakamoto designed Bitcoin entirely to design a decentralized electronic currency. As a result, the blockchain was born.

Speaking of Ethereum, blockchain has become an IT infrastructure. Ethereum is the value measure to promote the application of blockchain, and the smart contract on Ethereum is the protagonist of the chain.

In theory, smart contracts can develop any system. Smart Contract English is smart contract, and the "intelligence" here has nothing to do with the intelligence of artificial intelligence of AI. In fact, when Nick Saab proposed the smart contract in 1995, it had nothing to do with the blockchain. Its concept is simple, that is, to write legal provisions into executable codes.

But chocolate is the best match for rainy days, and smart contracts are the best match for blockchain. As mentioned above, the contract should be in duplicate or in quadruplicate. Smart contracts, since they are legal provisions, can be automatically executed, but of course they cannot be controlled by one party to the contract. It must be distributed storage, so as to dispel the doubts of all interested parties. This is called decentralization.

Today, applications that use blockchain and smart contracts are mainly concentrated in the following areas:

Financial field: it used to be digital currency; Used as a payment system; Used as a remittance system; Used as a clearing system; Used to do securities trading system; Used in supply chain finance.

Asset description: used to register assets, such as real estate land registration, valuables registration, etc.

Insurance products: insurance products with simple terms, such as mutual insurance.

Authentication: Used for storing personal and business identity information and online authentication.

Supply chain: used to trace the source of goods and track the production process.

Government affairs: used to vote; Used for official documents; Used for property right registration.

Of course, it can also be used to play games, such as making a blockchain to raise cats, dogs and frogs, or trying to raise men?

No matter what you do, before you decide to enter the blockchain, before you decide to start searching for "blockchain", mark my words, you must first publicize it and shout with a loud voice that can be heard all over the world: We have achieved a blockchain.

Present situation of blockchain technology

What you can do and how to do it are two things.

The most mature applications of blockchain are naturally systems such as Bitcoin and Ethereum. In the field of commercial applications, we can only say that everyone is still groping.

Many reports say that the blockchain application of xx company has been launched, but in fact, most of them are in their own homes, or several companies have joined hands to make chains in their respective laboratories. I haven't seen any application that directly publishes external data.

At present, the application of smart contract is also combined with centralized system. It is rare to implement all business logic on smart contracts.

Most skilled blockchains are entrepreneurial companies. People who can write their own chains are probably disdainful of working.

Large-scale and large-capacity applications, such as e-commerce, blockchain has almost never been realized. After all, at this stage, blockchain still has efficiency and capacity problems. But I think it won't be long before it really comes true. Although it is still "only listening to the sound of stairs, no one comes down", once a person comes down, the people who follow will immediately fill the room.

After 10 years, blockchain will become a common technology, just like today's relational database.

However, blockchain is destined to be different from relational databases and mobile and big data technologies. It is at the same level as the Internet, even surpassing the concept of the Internet. Because, it challenges the human organizational model, and it changes the human organizational model.

Today's internet is so prosperous that it has greatly changed human life, but it has not changed human organizational model. E-commerce is very developed, but it just moved the market from community stores and supermarkets to Taobao and Amazon. The bank is still that bank, and Alipay WeChat is just another bank; Intermediary or intermediary, Taobao shop is only the online form of the shop; Do you want to prove that you are the moth of your parents, or do you want to go to the police station to stamp? Nothing has changed, and it is rarely different from the Ming and Qing Dynasties. People-centered judgment and decision-making have not changed for thousands of years.

It's time to give some work to the machine.

When the blockchain technology has developed for 50 years, people are surprised to find that so many institutions have disappeared, so that they can understand the meaning of the blockchain in 2 107.

10 years later, blockchain technology will occupy one-tenth of the workload in development. This is my estimate, which may not be accurate. Guess one first, in case it's accurate.

As mentioned above, smart contracts are most suitable for blockchain. A smart contract is like a knight, and a blockchain is a good horse.

There is also a perfect match for the blockchain, that is, the Internet of Things. What should be done about the interconnection of everything, the dialogue between things, and the transaction between things? It is more appropriate to use the distributed storage of blockchain and the * * * identification algorithm of blockchain. However, it is still far away. When the blockchain and the Internet of Things are combined, China's GDP must be the first in the solar system.

How should I apply for a blockchain?

As mentioned above, the first thing to use blockchain is to make a huge publicity, so that the whole world knows that you use blockchain, on the one hand, to do marketing for yourself, on the other hand, to promote the development of the industry by the way.

The second thing is to look at your own career. Where do you need to achieve * * * knowledge and mutual trust with others? I found it. This is where you use the blockchain.

But please remember carefully that we must be cautious when applying blockchain today, which is very different from developing systems with relational databases and JAVA.

Be sure to analyze the design carefully before you start. What kind of open source blockchain to use, whether it is public chain deployment or private chain deployment, how to design smart contracts, how to interface with centralized systems, how to operate after going online, and how to maintain them should be carefully considered.

In fact, there are only a few technical routes that can be selected, such as Bitcoin, Ethereum, Super Account Book and Quorum, and there are not many options.

Find domestic blockchain companies and use their chain stores directly. Some companies have reliable chain stores. Many companies, such as Fun Chain and Bubi, are serious about making chains. But as far as I know, domestic chains are also changed from those international chains.

If you do it yourself, find two engineers with strong research ability and learn Ethereum or super-ledger from scratch. After about two or three months, you should be able to write smart contracts and do Dapp. If not, you should fire them and recruit two more. If you are ambitious and want to change the chain agreement and play with the source code yourself, it will be more difficult. You have to find a few doctors who are good at mathematics and proficient in algorithms, and work hard for a year or two. In fact, changing the chain source code is also a very conscientious job. Change more and change less, as long as you don't let it out, only you know.

Before starting, it is best to consult some people who have done blockchain projects. Maybe a word from others can save you three months' work. You know, on the vast Internet, there is really no mature application scheme for blockchain, and everyone is exploring.

The biggest challenge is: how to realize my application scenario with blockchain technology.

Everyone gropes in the dark, and success is to turn on a lamp. When thousands of lights are on and the room is brightly lit, blockchain technology is not uncommon.

What I am afraid of is that after touching it, it will be dark, only touching the fluttering leg hair, not touching the light, and everyone will be discouraged, scattered and stopped touching. Artificial intelligence has been scattered several times. In recent years, I have regained my confidence and continued to touch. The legs of the bosses are shining in the dark again.

What can I get with the blockchain?

For engineers, mastering blockchain technology will certainly increase wages. Today, blockchain talents are still scarce.

For a company, if a blockchain is used, don't look at the blockchain to dig it out. You must publicize it, the brand will be upgraded, the sales volume will increase, and the stock market value will skyrocket.

In the final analysis, the stock price and market value have little to do with blockchain technology, but they have risen because of the good technology of flickering. Those big names, that is, members of the "Internet Terminology Speculation Committee", people will also speculate on AI if they don't speculate on blockchain, and they will also speculate on iOT if they don't speculate on AI. In short, people's works will not lack material. How to fool, how to make money, and brush money from the sky.

I really like blockchain technology, and there is no michel platini in the Internet Terminology Speculation Committee, so don't think so much. Quitting is greed. Don't think about money, use it first, and you can taste the sweetness if you can't get it cheaply.

In 20 13, I chatted with some friends in a small office in Wangjing, and talked about making a bitcoin trading website with Java FX. A friend said: "Bitcoin is going crazy now, more than 200 pieces each. It's good to be an exchange. "

I liked Bitcoin because of its anti-thief temperament, but I didn't buy it. The exchange didn't do it either

I regret it now, but not just because I missed the high profit opportunity of Bitcoin. On the contrary, I thought about it and came to a conclusion, that is, although I keep saying that I love freedom, it is only because Ye Gong is a dragon. When a free utopia was placed in front of me, I didn't cherish it and dared not go in. I didn't buy bitcoin, which is a good example.