Blockchain Reading Group

Mi You (KMW), Sam Hopkins (Kunst), Verena Friedrich (exMedia)

Fachseminar Hauptstudium und weiterqualifizierendes Studium

Dienstag 14-täglich 10:30 – 13:00

Filzengraben 2, Atelier- / Seminarraum H 4.02 (Netze)

Q: What is the blockchain?

A: A decentralised, difficult to hack database, that is shared across a peer-to-peer (P2P) network.

Q: Why is it important?

A: It offers radical potential for managing data in a non-hierarchical manner such as creating cryptocurrencies, sharing ownership and commoning information. Blockchain is where cryptography, distributed systems, politics and economy converge.

Q: What is this seminar about?

A: We will read texts together to understand the structural foundation of the blockchain, and its applications in sociopolitical contexts.

Keywords: replicated database, self-supporting incentive system, consensus rule, proof-of-work scheme, possibility to rethink the valuation of value, the commons, interpretation and assignment of rights and entitlements...

Sessions

April 9, 10.00

Text: "Bitcoin: A Peer-to-Peer Electronic Cash System", Satoshi Nakamoto

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Satoshi_Nakamoto

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April 23, 10.30

Text: "Why It’s Hard to “Get” Bitcoin: The Blockchain Spectrum", Dhruv Bansal

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May 7, 10.30

To Read:

Ethereum white paper: https://github.com/ethereum/wiki/wiki/White-Paper#ethereum

Please see how far you can get into the text. There are always articles in simpler language to aid you:

https://coinsutra.com/ethereum-blockchain-vs-bitcoins-blockchain/

Discussed/watched during the seminar:

• "The Prophets of Cryptocurrency Survey the Boom and Bust", New Yorker, 10/2018
• "Code For Ethereum’s Proof-of-Stake Blockchain to Be Finalized Next Month", Coindesk, 05/2019
• Vitalik Buterin, recent interview "Decentralized finance is going to come first", youtube, 04/2019

May 14, 10.30 - Guest

Pekko Koskinen, Economic space agency

June 18, 10.30 - Guest

Dr. Denisa Kera is a philosopher and designer that experiments with various creative strategies of public engagement in emerging science and technology issues. She uses design methods (UX, critical design, design fiction, future scenarios, participatory design), ethnography and prototyping to research STS (Science, Technology and Society) issues. She spent the last decade as an Assistant Professor at the National University of Singapore, Senior Lecturer of Future Design in Prague College, and most recently as a Visiting Assistant Professor in Arizona State University, where she continues to cooperate as an affiliate member with the Centre for the Study of the Future. She is joining the BISITE group as a Marie Curie Senior Fellow to research Distributed Ledger Technologies (blockchain) and applications (smart contracts). Currently, she is "translating" Shakespear's play "Merchant of Venice" into a Hyperledger business network and transactions (smart contracts) to demonstrate the possibilities and limits of this emergent infrastructure and involve various stakeholders in the deliberation about the future of DLTs.

Participants

Mi	Sam	Verena
Augustina	Marko	Andreas
Martin R.	Max Mauro	Bijun
Denzel	Hyein	Zorger
Max	David	Lukas
Dawid	Jacob	Hans B.

Further Reading

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Links

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Exhibitions

• ZKM – Open Codes
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Events

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