Not sure where to post this, so I’ll put it here.
Today Etherium launched its first live public release, Frontier. As their PR release says, “The vision of a censorship-proof ‘world computer’ that anyone can program, paying exclusively for what they use and nothing more, is now a reality.” It’s a developers’ beta, fully functional but still command-line driven.
For those new to the concept, “Ethereum is a decentralized platform that runs smart contracts: applications that run exactly as programmed without any possibility of downtime, censorship, fraud or third party interference.” It’s powered by blockchain technology, similar to that underlying Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies. It’s pretty cool, and I’ve been watching this project slowly come together over the past year.
What does this have to do with Buddhism? Well, Etherium extends the blockchain to include executable code, ‘smart contracts’ that enable creation of organizations and businesses run by an incorruptibly honest bot. Functions like cryptocurrency and crowdfunding are built-in. Especially once GUI clients are available, Etherium will enable all kinds of cool projects with far less work and risk.
This short video explains it nicely:
