| The block chain is best known for bitcoin, but it's actually a really awesome tool for keeping public records safe. Things like land ownership is vulnerable to manipulation. We don't think about it much in the west because our governments don't change the name of the owner of your house for money, but it's a real problem in corrupt countries. It's also a major problem in shipping. Where ownership of containers is done with paper forms, that because of corruption have a higher cost of shipping than the actual container itself, and containers still get claimed with faked forms. Know what Mærsk did to secure the container contracts? They used the block chain. Much like container forms or land contracts, paper votes are only safe if your system isn't corrupt. With the block chain you could remove the need of relying on the system to be honest because everyone would be able to read the record. Right now you rely on independent observers, and I hate to tell you this, but we've been unable to influence elections in corrupt countries so far. When Putin wins with 900% of the votes in regions that hate him you can say that it seems unlikely, if they'd used block chain you would be able to see that it was a lie. |