Everybody uses internet in some fashion. But how many people actually understand fully how it works? Most of us are ‘plain’ users, or even ‘expert’ users, but mainly interested in the ‘what does this bring’ instead of the ‘how does this work’. The majority just uses it for the value it brings, not because of how it works. Or in spite of as some would argue. For Blockchain, or other innovations, this mechanism also stands.
With new technologies, come armies of experts trying to explain you how things work. All the nitty-gritty technical details are understood by these experts, while talking to (future) users of that technology. That is a serious mismatch, as those users are not interested in the details that are so deep under the hood.
"I don't use internet on my smartphone, I only use Facebook..."
A study I once read on smartphone use asked people if they used internet on their smartphone. In that study the general response was that the respondents did not use internet. As to why they did not use internet on their smartphone, they responded that the internet is stuffed with viruses and criminals trying to phish your passwords, so they prefer to stay away from that. Asked about what they then did with their smartphone, if they did not use the internet, they responded: “Facebook, that’s what I use.” Lesson here is, only the (perceived) added value counts, the rest is ignored and/or taken for granted.
With blockchain, too many try to explain how the Hastings work, how to set up a Node, how consensus is achieved, etc. Extremely important and interesting for those that deal with that on a daily basis. For the average user the only important question in a blockchain application is: “What does this enable me to do?”. That is happens to be powered by blockchain is irrelevant to most of them.
Looking for the added value of a technology, or want to go into the nitty-gritty mechanics? Let me know how I can help you.
