Blockchain simplified: How it eliminates the middleman
What's the big promise of blockchain in business? Its ability to eliminate the middle man.
Tony Saldanha
Tony Saldanha is a Fortune 25 executive in the Global Business Services (GBS) and Information Technology area. During a 27-year career at Procter & Gamble, Saldanha ran IT and GBS in every region of the world, helping create a multi-billion dollar best-in-class operation. He currently provides advice to boards and CEOs in Fortune 500 companies on digital transformation, especially on internal business operations.
TONY SALDANHA: Blockchain is most commonly known because of bitcoin, the cryptocurrency. And by the way they're very different things. So blockchain is the underlying programming on top of which cryptocurrency, bitcoin, has been developed. Let me distinguish the two. Bitcoin is just one little application of blockchain. It is something that most enterprises will shy away from because it is speculative and I'm not here to preach that companies go out and start trading using bitcoin. That would be a mistake. Blockchain is basically, you know, think of it as an excel spreadsheet. It is basically a big, big ledger in which everybody can put transactions but none of the sales, none of the values of those transactions can be messed around with, can be changed without, you know, everybody else saying oh, wait a minute. That particular sale was changed.
And because of that it is known to be unhackable. Now, the value of having an underlying platform that is available to the entire world to see if you have the appropriate kind of authorization and is known to be secure is obvious, right, because we know one of the biggest challenges when it comes to technology is somebody changing the values of my data. If you have an underlying platform that's known to be unhackable that provides a huge competitive advantage for most people. So potential users of blockchain could be everything from, you know, let's take a voting mechanism. By the way blockchain is being used for voting in places like Dubai for their stock exchange or even Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia for their actual people voting processes.
But there are more mundane uses of blockchain. You could use blockchain, for example, for intracompany financial transactions between the companies and both within companies as well. So instead of having your money go from your company to a bank to another company what if there was a common platform where you could actually have the best information that could not be hacked. That would eliminate the middleman. That is the promise of blockchain. It has the ability to eliminate the middle person because everybody has equal access to one version of the truth.
- Blockchain is basically a ledger of people's transactions. It is the underlying programming on top of which the cryptocurrency bitcoin was developed.
- Blockchain doesn't allow for people's transactions to be hacked because everyone has access to a record of the values exchanged. Because of this, it is said to be unhackable.
- Blockchain has many potential uses, such as in accounting systems. This is already the case in Dubai, where its used for the city's stock exchange, and in the Baltic states, such as Latvia and Lithuania, for their political processes.
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Credit: sakkmesterke
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Photo Credit: Frank Marino / Unsplash
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<p>The beard is an ever contentious subject in the domain of male grooming practices. Love them or hate them, new research on heterosexual mating preferences offers clues about why some women fawn over facial hair. </p>
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Beards and perceptions of masculinity
<img type="lazy-image" data-runner-src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8yMjU5OTg0MC9vcmlnaW4uanBnIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTY0NzkxMjM3N30.cH-GqNwP5GVqvstgJWAhBPn1B_lYpVEAI0I7iax7EQw/img.jpg?width=1245&coordinates=0%2C1900%2C0%2C849&height=700" id="caae6" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="cb0a355a4e8e1899789bc45f3f7aef56" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image" />Photo Credit: Wikimedia
<p>The study used 919 American (mostly white) women ages 18-70 who rated 30 pictures of men they were shown with various stages of facial hair growth. The photographs depicted men with faces that had been digitally altered to look more feminine or more masculine, with a beard and without a beard. The women rated the men according to perceived attractiveness for long-term and short-term relationships. The study found that the more facial hair the men had, the higher the men were rated on their attractiveness, particularly for their suitability for a long-term relationship.</p><p>Part of this might be attributed to facial masculinity — i.e. protruding brow ridge, wide cheekbones, thick jawline, and deeply set narrow eyes — which conveys information to a woman about a man's underlying health and formidability. Women tend to associate more masculine faces with physical strength and social assertiveness. It can also indicate a man with a superior immune response. The researchers suggested that their findings favoring bearded men could be due to the fact that facial hair enhances the masculine facial features on a man's face, like creating the illusion of a thicker jaw line. This could communicate direct benefits to women like resources and protection that would enhance survival among mothers and their infants. In other words, while a beard doesn't mean superior genetics in and of itself, it might be a primitive, ornamental way of saying, "Hey girl, I'm a testosterone-fueled lean, mean, pathogen fighting machine." <br></p><p>It could also be that a beard becomes its own destiny. The researchers in this study cite prior research that found that by growing a beard, men felt more masculine and had higher levels of serum testosterone, which was linked to a higher level of social dominance. They also tended to subscribe to more old-school beliefs about gender roles in their relationships with women as compared to men with clean-shaven faces.<span></span><br></p>What does disgust have to do with beard preference?
<p>Obviously, not all women dig beards. The researchers were particularly interested in what traits make a women prefer bearded men over clean-shaven faces. They looked into several factors including a woman's disgust levels on various concepts, her desire to become pregnant, and her exposure to facial hair in her personal life. </p><p>According to the study, women who were not into facial hair were turned-off by potential parasites or other critters they imagined could be in the hair or skin. Women ranking high on this "ectoparasite disgust" scale might have viewed beards as a sign of poor grooming habits. However, women who ranked higher in levels of "pathogen" did find the bearded men to be desirable, possibly because they perceived beards as a signal of good health and immune function. An intriguing discovery in the study was links to morality. Women who displayed higher levels of "moral disgust," or feelings of repugnance toward taboo behaviors, were more likely to prefer hairy faces. The authors opined that this could reflect a link between beardedness, politically conservative outlooks, and traditional views regarding performances of masculinity in heterosexual relationships.</p>Additional findings
<img type="lazy-image" data-runner-src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8yMjU5OTg1My9vcmlnaW4uZ2lmIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTYyNDI1NjUyOX0.P9B8WbmJR0q4nfzYZKbuNSA-2SAigVWJgrQE-_Gxlds/img.gif?width=980" id="49143" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="2ed3b1d6f20fc170bf2974646e565e8d" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image" />Giphy<p>The correlations that existed between married and single women's rating on the attractiveness of beards were not particularly clear, although the researchers noted that single and married women who wanted children tended to find beards more attractive than the women who didn't want children. They also found that women with bearded husbands found beards to be more attractive, which might indicate that social exposure to beards influences how desirable they are perceived of as being. Or it could be that men with wives who like beards grow beards.</p><p>It's important to note that culture plays a huge role in how attractive women perceive certain male characteristics as being. This study looked at a small, culturally specific group of American women, so no big, universal claims should be made about masculinity, facial hair, and male desirability to women. However, research like this is important in highlighting how human grooming decisions are driven by much more than fashion trends. Sociobiological, economic, and ecological factors all play a part in the way we choose to present ourselves.</p>
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Hulton Archive/Getty Images
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Since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, conflicts between religious freedom and public health regulations have been playing out in courts around the world.
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<h2>Sites of conflict</h2><p>In the summer of 1630, <a href="https://books.google.com/books/about/Cristofano_and_the_Plague.html?id=iAjbAAAAMAAJ" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">a plague epidemic packed</a> the plague hospitals known as "lazaretti" with over 15,000 people in Milan. Smaller towns also faced outbreaks that taxed their community resources.</p><p>In the <a href="https://books.google.com/books/about/Cristofano_and_the_Plague.html?id=iAjbAAAAMAAJ" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Tuscan town of Prato</a>, public health officials were beginning to doubt the wisdom of treating plague patients at the "lazaretto" located within the city walls. They feared a risk of further infection if the healthy were in such close proximity to the sick.</p><p>The city officials <a href="https://books.google.com/books/about/Cristofano_and_the_Plague.html?id=iAjbAAAAMAAJ" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">needed to identify an alternative location</a> that was far enough to keep the city safe, but close enough that they could conveniently move the sick patients. They determined that the Convent of St. Anne, located a couple of kilometers outside town, <a href="https://books.google.com/books/about/Cristofano_and_the_Plague.html?id=iAjbAAAAMAAJ" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">should serve as the lazaretto and requisitioned it</a>.</p><p>The seizure of church property by the nominally secular powers of the Tuscan grand duke infuriated the friars of St. Anne. They petitioned Grand Duke Ferdinando II de' Medici to <a href="https://books.google.com/books/about/Cristofano_and_the_Plague.html?id=iAjbAAAAMAAJ" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">overturn the act</a>, but he ignored their objections.</p><p>This was not because the grand duke was persecuting Catholics – he ruled a Catholic state, and two of his brothers became cardinals. However, during this outbreak of plague, it appeared that the grand duke deemed such emergency measures to be a necessity.</p>
<h2>Limits to jurisdiction</h2><p>However, the grand duke's jurisdiction did have limits. In late-Renaissance cities, civil authorities <a href="https://books.google.com/books/about/Faith_Reason_and_the_Plague_in_Seventeen.html?id=aqOrYdo8xnUC" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">could punish citizens</a> for public health infractions, but they did not have direct authority over the clergy.</p><p>When a priest in Florence broke quarantine by staying out late at night drinking and playing guitar with family members, the <a href="https://yalebooks.yale.edu/book/9780300196344/florence-under-siege" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">health board punished his sisters</a> but not him.</p><p>To discipline priests who broke public health laws, civil authorities had to petition local church officials, like bishops, to intervene. For example, as the plague spread in the Tuscan city of Pistoia in September 1630, public health officers <a href="https://uwpress.wisc.edu/books/0907.htm" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">resolved to broach with the archbishop</a> the possibility of emptying the fonts of holy water in case they were spreading disease.</p><p>Although no records confirm the outcome, throughout this epidemic the archbishop of Florence <a href="https://yalebooks.yale.edu/book/9780300196344/florence-under-siege" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">repeatedly reinforced the importance of the policies</a> of secular health commissioners.</p><p>State and religious officials alike were concerned about plague spreading through air, water and wine and curtailed traditional activities to minimize contagion.</p>
<h2>Case of Father Dragoni</h2><p>Much like today, when civil authorities <a href="https://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/SF-archbishop-protest-Catholic-march-covid-15584389.php" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">canceled religious services and ceremonies</a>, local protests ensued.</p><p>During the plague outbreak of 1631 in the small Tuscan town of Monte Lupo, a <a href="https://books.google.com/books/about/Faith_Reason_and_the_Plague_in_Seventeen.html?id=aqOrYdo8xnUC" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">fight broke out</a> between the guards tasked with preventing gatherings and a group of armed civilians from the surrounding countryside and their parish priest.</p><p>The worshipers insisted on congregating to <a href="https://books.google.com/books/about/Faith_Reason_and_the_Plague_in_Seventeen.html?id=aqOrYdo8xnUC" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">pray at the crucifix</a> in the local church and threatened to shoot with an arquebus – a long gun used during the Renaissance period – anyone who got in their way.</p><p>The health officer <a href="https://books.google.com/books/about/Faith_Reason_and_the_Plague_in_Seventeen.html?id=aqOrYdo8xnUC" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">tasked with managing the delicate situation</a> at Monte Lupo was a 60-year-old Dominican friar, Father Giovanni Dragoni, who was both a public health officer and a member of the clergy.</p><p>Father Dragoni was <a href="https://books.google.com/books/about/Faith_Reason_and_the_Plague_in_Seventeen.html?id=aqOrYdo8xnUC%2056" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">stated to be furious</a> with the parish priest for his disregard for the public health measures. He promptly dispatched a message to the regional health commissioner: "It is necessary to take measures against these agitators of the people. The evidence is serious, and … the reverend parish priest is largely responsible for these uprisings."</p><p>Father Dragoni was unable to prevent the parish priest and congregants from gathering and feasting. He found himself further burdened the next morning with sorting out the events that had followed the procession, when prayer and feasts had turned into late-night drunken parties of revelers who tore down part of the wooden stockade that had been erected to enforce the quarantine.</p><p>When the plague outbreak finally ended and the town reopened, Father Dragoni offered the following report <a href="https://books.google.com/books/about/Faith_Reason_and_the_Plague_in_Seventeen.html?id=aqOrYdo8xnUC" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">on his own actions</a>: "I have not acted unjustly and have accompanied severity with compassion and charity. … In more than a year that I have held this office, no one has died without sacrament or confession."</p><p>In a period that has been characterized by faith's opposition to science, Father Dragoni demonstrated through his actions that carrying out public health measures and God's sacraments went hand in hand.</p>
<h2>Then and now</h2><p>Four centuries later, there are similar examples of religious resistance to public health measures and striking examples of religious collaboration with public health regulations.</p><p>Although <a href="https://www.bostonglobe.com/2020/08/31/metro/i-want-people-god-enjoy-liberty-pastor-maine-super-spreader-wedding-gives-defiant-indoor-sermon/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">there are instances of church leaders</a> rallying congregants against public health measures, there are <a href="https://www.bostonglobe.com/2020/09/12/metro/new-england-evangelical-leaders-maine-sermon-reflects-deepening-rifts-faith-community/?s_campaign=8315" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">far more examples</a> of people and institutions who, like Father Dragoni, bring together religious devotion and disease control.</p><p>When the coronavirus swept into Italy in February, the patriarch of Venice – the bishop – promptly complied with the government's edict to cancel Masses, eagerly doing his part to <a href="https://www.repubblica.it/cronaca/2020/02/23/news/coronavirus_italia-249329434/" target="_blank">stem the epidemic</a>. And in the Italian churches around Turin that remained open for private prayer, the cisterns of holy water were promptly <a href="https://www.repubblica.it/cronaca/2020/02/23/news/coronavirus_scuole_chiuse_e_niente_carnevale_tutti_i_provvedimenti-249355737/" target="_blank">emptied</a>.</p><p>To be clear, there is a long history of religious resistance to public health measures during disease outbreaks. But cooperation between church and state in attempting to stem the spread of disease has its precedents too.<img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/146473/count.gif?distributor=republish-lightbox-basic" alt="The Conversation"></p><p><a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/hannah-marcus-1156731" target="_blank">Hannah Marcus</a>, Assistant Professor, Department of the History of Science, <em><a href="https://theconversation.com/institutions/harvard-university-1306" target="_blank">Harvard University</a></em></p><p>This article is republished from <a href="https://theconversation.com/" target="_blank">The Conversation</a> under a Creative Commons license. Read the <a href="https://theconversation.com/quarantine-rule-breakers-in-17th-century-italy-partied-all-night-and-some-clergy-condemned-the-feasting-146473" target="_blank">original article</a>.</p>
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