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Structure of Blockchain and Socio-economic
Imaginaries - Week 1
Socio-technical Imaginaries: Refer to the connection between science, technology and
society. Depict on how visions from science and technology are embedded in materiality,
meaning and morality. These visions are collectively held, instituionally stabilized and
publicly performed visions of desirable futures, animated by shared understandings about
social life.
Metaphors: Are cognitive schemes through which people shape their lives and
expectations, they abound the scientific and technological fields of knowledge.
“Technology” is not simply technical:
● Blockchain has a novel technical structure
● This structure emerged from a set of economic and political beliefs (imaginaries)
● The cultures that use blockchain also traffic in their own imaginaries, often
connected but distinct from earlier imaginaries
● One way to analyse blockchain projects is to examine and critique these
imaginaries
● “Technology” is never just the technical parts – it is also the beliefs that adhere to
them, which shape technology and are shaped by it
Decentralization
“What is needed is an electronic payment system based on cryptographic proof instead
of trust, allowing any two willing parties to transact directly with each other without the
need for a trusted third party. “The system distributes power across a peer-to-peer
network with no single point of control. No single party can shut the system down.”
(Tapscott & Tapscott)
Web2.0 - Centralized, Human Mediated and Rent Seeking
Web3.0 - Decentralized and Autonomous
Blockchain is a distributed immutable public ledger:
,Distributed: The blockchain is maintained by a decentralized network of nodes
(computers) that are interconnected. Each node has a copy of the entire blockchain,
and they work together to reach consensus on the state of the ledger.
Immutable: Once information is added to the blockchain, it becomes extremely
difficult to alter or delete. The immutability is achieved through cryptographic hash
functions and the consensus mechanism, typically proof-of-work or proof-of-stake,
depending on the blockchain's design.
Public Ledger: The ledger, which records all transactions or data entries, is
transparent and accessible to all participants in the network. Anyone can view the
entire history of transactions, contributing to transparency and trust in the system.
Bitcoin has been described as a techno-utopian project, which advocates
erroneously view to be a “horizontal network” that is free of politics, when in fact, it
concentrates power in the hands of a few.
Nakamoto's vision for blockchain and Bitcoin can be summarized in several key points:
Decentralization: Nakamoto aimed to create a decentralized system where no single
entity or authority would control the network. This was in response to the perceived
shortcomings of traditional financial systems, which rely on centralized authorities
like banks.
Peer-to-peer transactions: The primary purpose of Bitcoin was to enable direct
transactions between users without the need for intermediaries such as banks. This
would allow for faster and cheaper transactions globally.
Cryptography: Nakamoto emphasized the use of cryptographic techniques to secure
transactions and control the creation of new units of the cryptocurrency. The
blockchain's security relies on a consensus algorithm called proof-of-work, which
requires participants (miners) to solve complex mathematical problems to validate
transactions.
Limited and predictable supply: Nakamoto introduced a capped supply of 21 million
bitcoins to create scarcity and prevent inflation. This fixed supply is intended to
mimic the scarcity of precious metals like gold.
, Anonymity and privacy: While not explicitly stated, the design of Bitcoin allows for a
certain level of pseudonymity and privacy in transactions. Users are identified by
cryptographic addresses rather than personal information.
Resistance to censorship: Nakamoto designed Bitcoin to be resistant to censorship,
ensuring that transactions would be secure and immune to interference from
governments or other third parties.
Open source: Nakamoto released the Bitcoin software as open-source, meaning that
anyone can review, modify, and contribute to the code. This transparency promotes
trust in the system and allows for continuous improvement.
Political and Economic Imaginaries
Week 2
Cryptography, former weapon of state, had begun to seem like a means of technological
empowerment for the individuals. Some individuals are invested in freedom and autonomy
because they believe in the key role of technology in the future free society and digital cash
as essential component of this vision. Others have mix intentions, indeed some might be
interested in privacy but some others want to see power taken away from multinational
corporations. Thus, the birth of cypherpunks and crypto-anarchists began.
Article 1: “What Was Bitcoin, What Will it be? The
Techno-Economic Imaginaries of a New Money Technology”
, Cyberpunks: Are a range of activist who believe in the importance of privacy as a
foundation for free society. Privacy is the power to selectively reveal oneself to the
world. They believe that privacy is defensive and informational: people should be
free to conceal and express themselves (it is like a natural right).
For Cyberpunks being able to selectively reveal personal financial and transactional
information is one of the most powerful forms of privacy.
Cyberpunks are equipped with technical skills and political commitments necessarily to do
so up to them to protect privacy produce the technologies that would enable and constrain
the basic of communicative reality.
They are obligated to help produce system that would make big brother obsolete/unusual.
There aim is simultaneously individualistic and populist. Communication privacy can not
function at the level of the individual: no one could have it unless everyone did. People must
come together deploy these systems for the common good to develop and use shared
communication systems that would form the basis of a new society predicated on privacy
Cryptoanarchists: They extend the logic of cypherpunks of free expression, political
extend beyond the pursuit of privacy to free markets. Crypto-anarchy offered, ‘the building
material for a new age’ but one based on an ‘anarcho-capitalist market system’. Freedom (in
speech and in markets) would be accomplished through cryptographic technology that
enable voluntarists, mutually beneficial contractual relationships
For them having a money system untethered by governments was necessary for a free
market society.
However Crypto-anarchists are less inclusive than cypherpunks: It matters little
that not everyone would be able to equally participate in the coming
Cypherpunks framed their works as deploying code for the preservation of the natural right
to privacy for all >< Crypto-anarchy would be much natural and just happened to them, but
each individuals would be responsible for seizing the intellectual and technological tools
necessary to succeed in the coming society.
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