Blockchain and recreational marijuana...

I was recently sitting across the table from an associate who is trying to raise money for a couple of ventures she's involved with and as part of the conversation she said (with a sigh), "If it doesn't have the word blockchain or marijuana in the title of the pitch deck no one cares. Blockchain and recreational marijuana is all anyone wants to talk about".

If you aren't aware, Canada is planning to legalize recreational marijuana July 1st of this year (although the Senate is already saying maybe August), and the speculation and preparation is at a fevered pitch — personally I think when it finally does become legal the shakeout from a business perspective will turn everything into one big hot mess. Blockchain though is something very different — although admittedly I was struggling to understand its potential other than the platform that allowed for the crazy speculation that surrounds bitcoin and its cryptocurrency cousins.

By nature I am not a "tech guy" and rarely an early adopter, but it became apparent after talking to other people (and the recent deal between the social media platform beBee and a blockchain company called Profede) I needed to have a deeper understanding of what blockchain is, and more importantly what blockchain can do.

I wanted to ensure that if I missed any opportunity it wasn't because I was too lazy to become more knowledgeable. 

I've done a fair bit of research so far and I'm just starting to glean the potential of blockchain, although I'm still blind to most of it — I definitely have come to understand why people say it's the next iteration of the Internet though. There will probably be a great many holes in my thinking about blockchain but I wanted to make an attempt at articulating what it is, and more importantly, what it can do. And I think it's best to start with the internet.

The thing about the internet as we know it today is everything can be copied... over, and over, and over again — and because of this the content of the internet has been "devalued" to a point it has no innate value, as well as virtually no level of trust associated with it. Is that beautiful photograph the original or the millionth copy?

Blockchain allows for both trust and value to be created on the internet.

Using very complicated math and a decentralized network of computers, a public ledger can be created that offers what I call "immutable uniqueness" — it allows for the creation of something that can not be copied and is verified (and policed) by a public, decentralized system of users. The need for a third party trust institution (such as a bank) to ensure a transaction is honest is no longer needed. This I understood right away, but frankly I didn't want to be caught up in the very big turf war that is brewing between the currently trust establishments and something so very disruptive.

What I didn't appreciate was blockchain also allows you to create "ecosystems" (economic systems, not ecological systems).

The bi-product of a system that offers "immutable uniqueness" is that it creates something which can be given "immutable value". And I suppose you might as well call it currency because it is inherently used as a reward for any effort in the ecosystem — bitcoin miners are rewarded for all their computer power, brains, and involvement with bitcoin. Blockchain enables ecosystems to be created which allow you, through your "efforts and involvement in that ecosystem" to create currency from the system that unto itself has value — much like a country's economy is reflected in the value of it's currency.

And one last concept that ties this all together — fiat currency.

Fiat currency is defined as a currency established as money by government regulation or law or an ecosystem, and is derived from the Latin fiat ("let it become", "it will become") — simply put, it's a currency that is worth what it is worth because we have decided to believe it is so. How else would you explain bitcoin having a value of $12,804 as I type this?

My biggest problem now is that I'm not imaginative enough to grasp all the ecosystems that blockchain will create — something that is now on my immediate to-do list.

iamgpe

PS: I may be looking at this all wrong, so any help in this regard would be appreciated.

Moments — well it's Valentine's Day again...

Just to be clear, this is not about me piling onto the anti-Valentine's Day sentiment that is out there — I believe that love is probably the greatest human pursuit we have going and I support it in all its forms (even if sometimes it's represented by overpriced meals and twenty-five dollar roses).

Pixabay

This is about roses, and not the twenty-five dollar kind — it's here that I ask you to indulge me for a moment.

My experience over the years has me looking at roses by colour because, believe it or not, colour does matter when it comes to roses. I have simplified it in my little boy brain and it goes something like this — a red rose means love, a white rose means worthy of love, and a yellow rose means friendship (or out of love)... so if you are a purest (and put stock in this) you never really want to get a yellow rose unless everyone involved has an understanding of said friendship status.

I have always been partial to the white rose because it's a reminder that we are all worthy of love, and that this great pursuit comes in so many shapes and sizes. I will also say, I've always liked the way the great Louis Armstrong symbolically said it — 

The colors of the rainbow so pretty in the sky
Are also on the faces of people going by
I see friends shaking hands saying how do you do
They're really saying I love you

I think this is pretty much all I have to say on the topic of roses... except maybe to also say, "If you are gonna give roses, just give one." 

Symbolically, it's the only way to go!

iamgpe

If you are a Millennial this is what you need to know about me...

There was a time (which I admit seems like many lifetimes ago) where I was actively involved in hiring and working with people at the very, very end of the Gen X tail and at the very beginning of the Millennial generation (or in those days what we affectionately called the whY Generation) — frankly I'm not sure the distinction even matters because they all came to the table with great potential. It was a time of "high adventure"... with countless memories and stories that come with that kind of swashbuckling.

One such memory involved us in a classroom with everyone seated in that classic U shape arrangement listening to one of my colleagues at the front of the room; another colleague and I were seated at the back observing. As we were whispering to each other (which I will admit can be rude), a person close to us turned and said, "You're judging us aren't you?"

There was a moment of confusion and then I looked at her and said, "No we aren't". Then I motioned for her to pay attention to the front, looked back at my colleague, and stopped whispering (well for a little while at least) — again I will reiterate the whispering was a little rude. I will never forget the question though (or the concern that could be heard in her voice).

Now fast forward a little more than a decade when just last week I was talking to a Millennial about his website; when I asked for the web address he said sure, and then went onto ask me not to be "judgy". 

I think maybe it's time for some clarification, and to set the record straight when it comes to me.

For the record —

• Of all the generations I've worked with so far I like the Millennials the best. 
• I never judge when I'm having a discussion (or working) with Millennials — sadly, I wish I could say the same when it comes to Boomers.
• I'm not a "hater"; I don't "bully", and I'm generally not "mean".
• I'm respectful.
• I have opinions (and if I'm honest, more opinions than I have earned the right to have)
• I believe "candor" is important.

I think it's important to call out the last point because it's crucial to understand what candor is not. 

Candor is not "bullying", or being "judgy", or being a "hater", or any other word you decide to use when you don't like what is being said (or you disagree). If I candidly offer you constructive input and you say I'm being "judgy" or a "hater", et cetera, et cetera — well that's on you; not me.

I will always offer a safe and respectful place, and will not judge (or hate, or bully) — even when you don't like what I have to say.

That doesn't happen so much in the "real world" because as we all know, it's a "judgy" place.

Dedicated to L, R and A.

iamgpe