Debunking Blockchain Ignorance

I recently saw a very insightful video on YouTube called "19 Industries The Blockchain Will Disrupt". Its very good. You should go watch it.

Anyway, one ignorant noob made a comment on the video which said:

Possibilities are there and undoubtedly has a future, but the video is self-complacent and not autocritical. Everything is beautiful and actual technology is called into question. Why haven't they talked about the ANONIMITY danger and potential for misuse as a cover up? How is a decentralized network reliable and efficient if it is like a bittorrent network, public, where you never know if nodes are up or down and data is replicated inefficiently holding tons of redundancy and resources? Why do I have to participate in a mining network with my own computer? I'd rather have important data managed by dedicated servers in trusted companies and not by average Joe's computer.

My response was this:

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You are all sorts of confused. Allow me to explain how this really works.

Why haven't they talked about the ANONIMITY danger and potential for misuse as a cover up?

Because there is no need. There will always be dangers from hackers in any aspect of digital technology. Hackers will hack whether bitcoin exists or not. The only thing that has changed now is that they can steal your data, and ask for a ransom in digital currency which can't be traced back to them.

But hackers haven't been able to break the blockchain and probably won't because its based upon an encrypted hash which keeps getting longer and longer as time goes on.

How is a decentralized network reliable and efficient if it is like a bittorrent network, public, where you never know if nodes are up or down and data is replicated inefficiently holding tons of redundancy and resources?

This is nothing like a bittorent network. Some nodes can go online/offline, but there will always be nodes online SOMEWHERE in the world. And before a new node is allowed to join the network it has to "catch up" with all of the newest transactions first. Depending upon your network speed this could also take a while, days or weeks. And unlike bittorent, all nodes which are online have to be perfectly in synch, reach a mutual consensus, and must verify the encrypted transaction's signature before adding it to the chain.

And the blockchain transactions are only public in the sense that others can see the amount that was sent, and the wallet address which looks like: dsu6SD4bjsdfWYTi812GDC8sdfyui ....but no name, no address, no phone number.

Why do I have to participate in a mining network with my own computer?

You don't have to participate. Most people won't. Only a few people who are willing to spend money on high-end processing power, get rewarded with free coins for using their hardware to push other peoples transactions through the network. But they don't DO anything with those transactions, the mining software does it all. They only get rewarded.

I'd rather have important data managed by dedicated servers in trusted companies and not by average Joe's computer.

So you'd rather have high interest rates, people starving in third world countries, filthy rich bank CEOs, high credit card fees, and never-ending debt hanging over the global economy?

That's your choice.

But I'd rather have my transactions going through a decentralized network, and I have no fears since the transactions are encrypted, and MOST of my digital coins will be safely locked up on my hardware wallet (like a thumb drive) anyway. This is the future bro. And people who get in early can make tons of money.

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Let me know if my response was right on, flawed, or somewhat off. I wanna hear what you crypto experts think about his comment and mine.

Mike | @dashman | 06.28.17