Читать книгу Bitcoin, Blockchain & Co. - Joe Martin - Страница 9

We all know that once toothpaste has been squeezed out of its tube, it will never go back in. Turning back time breaches so many laws of physics that it is just not possible to do. Who among us would willingly choose to go back to the old practice of recording music from the radio onto cassette tapes, when we know the current quality of digital music from CDs, iTunes or Spotify?

These advancements and inventions that characterize our modern lives will not just disappear from use. Unlike advancements of the past, they will not be lost.

Knowledge, on the other hand, can be lost. It has only been in recent years that we have we discovered—with astonishment—why the ancient Romans were able to produce vastly superior and more durable cement than the builders of today. The materials and techniques we use for our motorway bridges crumble after just 50 years of use, while the Colosseum is—more or less—still standing almost 2000 years later. This superior building knowledge was lost to us through time.

Knowledge can be manipulated. In the era of “fake news,” manipulation of information is an easy feat to accomplish. Apparently. Because actually, the word was never really any different. Manipulation of every kind—from faked news to counterfeit banknotes, falsified records to forged signatures—has defined our past and created our society.