Open AccessForking in Time
Author(s) -
Calum Bowden
Publication year - 2018
Publication title -
a peer-reviewed journal about --
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
ISSN - 2245-7755
DOI - 10.7146/aprja.v7i1.116061
Subject(s) - argument (complex analysis) , blockchain , construct (python library) , corporate governance , computer science , spacetime , ecological succession , power (physics) , law and economics , mechanism (biology) , epistemology , computer security , sociology , economics , management , philosophy , computer network , ecology , biochemistry , chemistry , physics , quantum mechanics , biology
This article focuses on the way blockchains construct time and the implications that has on governance, paying particular attention to the original Bitcoin network. Blockchains enforce succession through consensus, and for this reason, the philosopher Nick Land argues that “The Blockchain solves the problem of spacetime”. The article uses Land’s argument as a starting point for understanding the crucial role time plays in the governance of blockchain networks. It asks if the technology can, in fact, be understood to solve the problem of absolute succession, to investigate ways in which forking, both a byproduct of distributed consensus and the mechanism through which blockchains are upgraded, breaks the power concentrating around Land’s definite article Blockchain.