Blockchain: Enabling things to collaborate

The technology of blockchain is not ready for primetime. It is susceptible to capacity problems, system failure, unanticipated bugs, and perhaps most damaging, the huge disappointment of technically unsophisticated users. Much like the internet in it’s nascent days, there needs to be a lot of experimentation, trial and error, before blockchain can be used by people in their day to day lives. Of course there exist mature applications like digital currency, but then again blockchain needs to go beyond just currency transactions.

The burgeoning field of the Internet of Things (IOT) seems like a ripe candidate. The technology of blockchain has the potential to solve a number of problems around intelligence, automation, privacy, transfer of value and many more that have been on the minds of designers and engineers. Few of the early consumer IOT devices have delivered practical value; unless you want your thermostat to ask your light bulb to ask your speaker to send a message to you on your smartphone that it’s too hot in the house.

Your Amazon Echo should easily be able to talk to your Google Home, Cortana or any other AI assistant or internet connected device.

To realize the full value of IOT, networks need to interoperate. Your Amazon Echo should easily be able to talk to your Google Home, Cortana or any other AI assistant or internet connected device. The challenge is that all these devices and companies that design them work with centralized databases. You need different API protocols to operate with data from each of these providers. Often they don’t play well with each other.

**Common APIs**The Internet of Things working on top of a blockchain infrastructure presents the opportunity to create common standard APIs for common contracts that the entire network can use; including governments, large players like Google and Amazon to small startups. An example of this would be an identity management API: you don’t need to create profiles on different platforms. When you create a verified profile on one of the platforms, any application can use it to provide services. The individual can decide the amount of information that needs to be shared and easily revoke access to their personal data. If any company tries to replicate this data on their central server, the blockchain would have an entry for this transaction. If users wants a particular company to delete their data, the blockchain would enforce the individual’s right to be forgotten.On the Internet of Things, every object needs to be registered and have an identity. Devices need to coordinate transfer of value in the form of money, electricity, computation, reputation, etc. They need to create networks of trusted devices and these networks need to interoperate with the outside world. The internet of things depends on a ledger of things. The firmware of these internet connected devices can have metadata attached so that other devices on the network can quickly authenticate, recognise and collaborate with these devices without the need of setting up. This information can be used to assign roles and behavioural characteristics to these devices in the form of smart contracts. Although a rudimentary IOT infrastructure is being developed by a number of companies in silos, it would be better for users, incumbents and new players to share the network, much like the internet. All your devices including your PC and phone need to operate on the same network.

**Privacy — the elephant in the room.**Blockchain networks can provide immense value to the Internet of Things in terms of security, reliability and ensuring privacy. Things that were unheard of and would have been thought to be bizarre are becoming common place. Your thermostat now comes with a privacy policy.What happens when all the devices around you start collecting information about your actions. Collecting, sharing and analyzing infinite amounts of data that can dog an individual forever. They’ll use this information to sell you things and provide you with personalized services. Is that the cost of your personal information? Is a relevant search result the true value of your privacy? These are important questions that need to be answered before companies start bombarding you with smart devices in exchange for your private data with no or very little repercussion. Smart home devices and services should pay you for accessing your private information. The value of the data should be according to how personal the information is. For example, your name and age are not too valuable, but your health records are.

It is important for these devices to make privacy the default setting.

This ledger of things apart from securing privacy and trust can play a significant role in streamlining the interaction between devices and the surrounding world. It is important for these devices to make privacy the default setting. Brands will earn trust by respecting privacy, keeping users at the centre of their design and ensuring end-to-end encryption. Blockchain networks can easily be designed to ensure privacy.

1. Intelligent systems

A blockchain network of IOT devices can be the foundation for intelligent automation systems for homes or other private and public spaces. If a connected device does not perform well, is consuming too much data or electricity than defined by it’s smart contract; then the network can reset, restart or altogether reject the object. Devices can have firmware that has metadata embedded for other devices to authenticate, recognise and delegate tasks. The firmware will include smart contracts defined by the manufacturer or in some cases, the user. These smart contracts can trigger events like updating the device software, scheduling repair and maintenance, sending notifications to local authorities in cases of danger, etc.Blockchain can enable intelligent infrastructure. For example, a mesh network water supply pipes and smart meters. The smart meters can communicate with each other and notify of a leakage or excessive pressure. Since the network is built with blockchain, it can work on top of the internet or can be standalone. If one of the smart meters malfunctions or loses connection to the internet, the neighboring smart meters can pick up the data and transfer it if any one of the nodes is connected to the internet. The network can trigger smart contracts to upgrade, repair or replace a smart meter. The system is self-maintaining and self-serving.

2. Exchanging units of value

Internet of Things deployed on a blockchain network can ensure a secure and reliable exchange of units of value like money, electricity, time, personal data, computing power, etc. Users can securely rent excess capacity like wifi bandwidth, electricity generated by solar panels, expensive equipment and other resources that were previously impossible. This enables a true shared economy unlike that of Uber and AirBnb where the parent company becomes a data warehouse and can utilise your personal information for other motives apart from providing relevant services. Even if they do, on the blockchain network, the individual would be able to see where and how her data was used.Users can even monetise their personal data. A company like Fitbit may want to know what you ate for breakfast, your activity or that you are contemplating on joining a yoga class. In return for this information, Fitbit can pay you in Fitbit coins, coupons or currency.

**Peer-to-peer distributed models**Blockchain networks also enable secure and reliable peer-to-peer models of production and distribution. For example, people can start selling excess electricity that their solar roofs generate on a micro-grid network. These nodes can create their own self-servicing electricity infrastructure on top of a mesh network. These networks can interact with the local or national electric grid where they can buy or sell electricity between communities. Smart contracts can be configured to negotiate for the best rates of electricity. Solar credits can be given to users that produce energy from the sun. The electricity generated from solar can be priced lower or exchanged for solar credits. Devices that consume less energy can be awarded additional credits which can be redeemed for buying upgrades or in the form of currency. These smart devices would work seamlessly with any public utility.

3. Accountability

A blockchain network can be created where every piece of public infrastructure is tagged. Smart public devices along with tagged public infrastructure like benches, smart poles, traffic signals can form an Internet of Public Things. This Internet of Public Things can be a self-maintaining, self-servicing system deployed on a distributed ledger that every citizen can access. Citizens can track location, safety, maintenance details of public utilities. Fraud and corruption would either be extremely difficult or impossible. A government that deploys such a system would have an increased acceptance rating.Companies can tag every piece of equipment that communicates ownership, warranties and other important information. Systems can also be deployed as private blockchains by companies to track inventory, manage insurance, self-maintenance and self-servicing of equipment. Smart contracts can trigger auto-renewal of leases, manage payments, purchase of upgrades, automate delivery and repair, etc.Blockchain can increase accountability and reduce or eliminate corruption in both public and private institutions.

Evolution of computing

The next wave of connected devices will probably be subtler: embedded tattoos that monitor health data, smart pills that travel to the infection and attack it directly, brain interfaces that let you communicate thought or search for that obscure quote you can’t seem to recall with your human brain. All these devices will create their own public and private networks. It will be necessary for these networks to connect and interoperate seamlessly; quite literally at the speed of thought. The internet of everything will need distributed, reliable and secure information sharing to automate actions and transactions; to be able to act intelligently, be self-servicing and self-maintaining.To enable this, corporations can act as curators for the community. Much like the internet, it would be a better investment to nurture a peer production community much like Linux, than setting up R&D units that act in silos. The blockchain is after all, a tool. It can be used to change the world for good or for worse. There exists a possibility that this might be mankind’s failed experiment. It’s value lies not in the fact that it can enable intelligent systems, reduce transaction costs or increase the speed of transactions. Existing systems can do the same. Blockchain’s true value is in being able to enable these possibilities with privacy, accountability and trust embedded by design rather than a feature on top of the system.

In the short term blockchain can renew freedom of speech without the fear of surveillance.In the long term, it can be a foundation for full artificial intelligence.

In the short term blockchain can renew freedom of speech without the fear of surveillance.In the long term, it can be a foundation for full artificial intelligence.

Peace!

References

1. Blockchain revolution by Alex Tapscott and Don Tapscott
2. Who Owns the Future? by Jaron Lanier
3. Smart Cities: Big Data, Civic Hackers, and the Quest for a New Utopia by Anthony M. Townsend
4. The Laws of Simplicity by John Maeda
5. How the blockchain is changing money and business by Don Tapscott (TED Talk)
6. How the blockchain will radically transform the economy by Bettina Warburg (TED Talk)

P.S. A lot has been talked about the opportunities and possibilities of this technology in the domain of finance, viz . micro-payments, currency conversions, remittances, insurance, Blockchain IPOs, Altcoins etc. I have tried to stray away from these topics as much as possible.All views are personal.

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