Blockchain

March 18, 2019
Journalist Williams (How to Be a Hollywood Star) declares that blockchain possesses unlimited potential in this passionate, erratic love letter to the innovative technology. Presenting an almost stream-of-conscious series of short vignettes, Williams begins by defining blockchain—a digital ledger originally created for recording transactions involving the cryptocurrency Bitcoin—and explaining how it works, then expounds upon its other uses, which include tracking commodities from their origin to their sale, which could, he writes, stem trafficking in blood diamonds and other morally tainted goods; providing people without drivers’ licenses or passports a form of government ID, a valuable benefit for the estimated 1.1 billion people without ID in the world today; and enabling the secure copyrighting of online photos and other files. In the future, Williams sees blockchain bringing about a newly decentralized and transparent internet. Woven throughout are anecdotes about attending academic panels—one intriguingly titled “AI, Blockchain, and the New Matriarchy”—and witnessing a psychedelic-laced shamanic ritual in the Amazon, during which Williams witnesses a “radiant green light... radiant with periodic dots” he compares to the nodes and system connecting the blockchain. This short introduction to a cutting-edge technology is appealingly informative and hopeful, but its inconsistent, flighty structure will largely restrict its readership to those already interested in the topic. Agent: Susanna Lea, Susanna Lea Associates.