Hello! Steemit FAQ tells me that it is good form to to do an introduceyourself... who am I to argue?

I'm here because I am interested in useful things that can change the world for the better.

Obviously I ended up looking here because of the 'blockchain thing' (and came on because Steem looks like a genuinely good platform for publishing so worth a try!)

My work involves exploring difficult questions that use analysis where the real world is messy. (not much more specific than that i am afraid!) I work where strategy and analysis meet: strategic analysis, analysis to aid strategic thinking and strategies for analysis. I am mostly a private consultant, but work with various universities (mostly the London School of Economics and Sciences Po - IEP, Paris)

I do this work often for governments and international organisations, but also for private organisations large and small. I tend to get involved where there is no existing analytical approach, or if tailoring one needs a lot of experience and a fair bit of creativity.

A lot of what I do looks at how people make decisions about what is 'good' or what has 'improved' and turning what are quite often subjective or abstract data into a reasonable basis for defensible business or policy decisions.

So new algorithms, data structures and protocols are always interesting.

I am a mathematician/statistician/economist and a political scientist by training. So the mechanics, the economics and the governance and political/societal aspects of things like blockchain, networks and AI interest me equally.

I like and dislike what I have seen about blockchain in equal measure. Yes, it's a great idea... secures transactions/exchanges thus helping incentive structures for people to collaborate to mutual benefit.

On the down side, it supports the ultra-liberal free-market notion of the world. If you already have a ton of resource (cash, or whatever) you can buy into all the tradeable blockchains and suck out the goods/services that you want - even if you are not supplying anything (in terms of a thing...) back to the community. You can also use a pile of resources that you already have to speculate and abitrage your way to a bigger pile.

In other words, we are embedding even more deeply the existing distribution of resources that we have in the world. We may be giving some marginally better opportunities to some groups, but quite likely reinforcing the massively powerful position of others. Good or evil? That's not what I'm paid to think about (but it is my hobby...)

So how should the governance work? one coin, one vote; or one user, one vote? Neither is 'fair' neither is 'right' but we need to think through the economic and governance consequences. Just ask Kenneth Arrow https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arrow%27s_impossibility_theorem

So, here I am. I will post some stuff, but I'd be happier if you asked me what I think about something difficult. That's what I do best...