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Hash Power – Ep. 1 - Understanding Blockchains

Invest Like the Best with Patrick O'Shaughnessy

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Block Chains and the Information Age

Throughout history, the accumulation of wealth and power has led to the need for larger and larger overlords to protect it, from tribe leaders to massive nation-states. However, block chains represent a shift towards individual empowerment. They enable individuals to create, trade, and hold wealth independently, without the need for a sovereign or lord for protection. The trend in the information age is towards more power accruing to individuals, with cryptocurrencies and block chains playing a central role in providing individual sovereignty. The democratization of intellectual power through computing has now extended to wealth creation and retention, with a potential future where all digital business is conducted in virtual reality, transcending boundaries and traditional corporate structures. Block chains allow for the digitization of financial structures, potentially altering the very concept of a corporation. By explicitly programming incentive structures into self-contained universes, block chains enable the emergence of complex networks and behaviors, as seen in the case of Bitcoin creating the largest supercomputer network through incentivized participation.

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