2/26/2016

Yes, look it up as it is rapidly impacting us all. A timely example is Imogen Heap’s recently announced Mycelia project (here) in which she wants to sidestep middlemen like iTunes and Spotify:

Aside from enabling faster, direct payments for artists, Heap wants to create a free platform where musicians have control over the data created by their songs as they circulate among fans and other musicians, including the song’s credits, terms of usage dictated by the artist, where the song is played and when, and any transactions. This information is tracked using blockchain technology, a method of recording digital transactions first used for Bitcoin.

I am/was a professional engineer for most of my adult life and I enjoyed the bit of prestige and good remuneration that came with earning my engineering degree and completing a four-year apprenticeship and rigorous exams needed to obtain my engineering license. Like other professions, engineers controlled access to the knowledge and the right to use that knowledge for my clients.