Blockchain Fiction

Catalog description

"Blockchain is the new Internet" - something bigger is going on here, than just another form of digital payment like Bitcoin. The blockchain enthusiasts promise applications from smart contracts, to autonomous organizations, to anarchistic systems of government. This course introduces fundamental concepts and functionalities of the blockchain and its applications, and offers a way to playfully explore its multiple dimensions. The goal of the course is not only to improve skills in this utopian however very real technology, but also to creatively apply it, to come up with design fiction and push the concept to the edge. Students will learn the basics of blockchain technology, cryptography, and the functions specific to the blockchain like crypto-currencies, smart contracts, and autonomous organizations. Students will create their own designs and applications (real or fictional) of blockchain, and their speculative designs what the technology might become. The course includes reading and practical work as homework and in class work.