Steemit Crypto Academy Contest / S2W3 - Blockchain in our lives. by @bolaji001

Greetings to every member of the @crypto-academy and to the entire Steemit community at large. I welcome us all to the third week of the second season of the Steemit Engagement Challenge. I am delighted to be here again to participate in another contest in this great community. We are to write on the topic Blockchain in our lives, so I will be sharing with us, my opinion on the topic, the advantages and disadvantages of adopting blockchain technology in our everyday lives and many other interesting facts and applications of this powerful technology. So come along with me and enjoy.

Designed using Canva

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INTRODUCTION (WHAT IS BLOCKCHAIN NETWORK?)

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Blockchain technology has been around for some time now as we might all know. I have always thought that blockchain technology only has to do with cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin and crypto in general. But crypto is just one of the many applications of the blockchain technology.

Blockchain, from the word, is a chain of blocks with each block storing or able to store data in an immutable way.
It stores these data in digital format and each data stored has a unique ID and timestamp which can be used to find it in the block chain. The data stored in a blockchain are mostly transactional records and are guaranteed to be very secure.
The structure of a blockchain is quite unique in such a way that data are stored starting from the genesis block (the building block) and once it is filled up with data moves to the next block and so on.

I think the most essential feature of the blockchain technology is the security it brings to data stored in it and how it makes the transmission of these data very efficient.

A lot of companies or businesses across the globe are already adopting this technology and it is helping revolutionize these businesses. Let's see how.

Blockchain is changing everyday life for everyone, what is your opinion on the matter?

Blockchain technology has been improving so greatly since Bitcoin had the first blockchain and other projects also emulate Bitcoin and built their own blockchain also which has made them so strong and secured. Other sectors saw that blockchain is doing well and they decided to start building blockchains for different governmental and private sectors.

The very secure nature of blockchain have made a lot of companies, institutions etc. to adopt the use of blockchain for storage of data. Schools now adopt the use of blockchain to save students and workers data, the medical sector have adopted the use of blockchain to store patient data which makes it easy to recall a patient data that have been saved for years and the military also now save data on blockchain which makes their operations more successful than before.

So many sectors are building their own blockchain and in years to come am sure the world will adopt the blockchain system.

Nations of the world now adopt blockchain system for electoral process, this process cannot be altered by anyone, this process bring about a smooth, fair and transparent voting system. This way, election results would be guaranteed to be accurate and the rightful winner, the people's choice would be elected. Adopting blockchain technology in electoral processes, would also go a long way in eradicating occurrence of violence, vote buying and other undisciplined acts.

China is one of the countries that have adopted the blockchain technology. Just very recently, China unveiled MyBaby, the world's first blockchain-based in-Vitro fertilization (IVF) service.
MyBaby enables users to track and view the extraction, labelling and scoring of fertilized eggs and also to monitor the cultivation and preservation of embryos. The service/application also solves the conventional problems related with the privacy of sensitive medical data. But, the cryptographically secured properties of the blockchain technology create a reliable and secure environment and enhance the user experience in such a way that is extraordinary in the IVF field.

Ethiopia, is another country that already adopted the blockchain technology in their educational system, recently Cardano blockchain announced their partnership with the Ethiopian government to help them store and records over 5 million students' data across the country.

What are the main advantages and disadvantages, in adopting the use of blockchain in everyday life?

In this section, I will be discussing the major advantages as well as the major disadvantages of adopting the blockchain tech in our everyday life.

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ADVANTAGES

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✅DECENTRALIZED: The blockchain technology being a decentralized system, I think is one of its main advantages and why it's becoming more popular and adopted. Decentralized, in the sense that the control and decision-making is not done by a central entity such as the government, an individual or an organization but transferred to a distributed network. It eliminates the need to work with a third-party organization or an intermediary and all participants of a particular blockchain makes the decisions.

It is a huge advantage because the risk of the data getting to the wrong hands when working with third-party organizations is very high and the process of implementing top tier security in conventional databases would take a lot of time and huge amount of money might be spent on it. But, when blockchain technology is adopted, this can be avoided, because the reasons mentioned earlier.

✅ FAST and EFFICIENT: Another advantage of the blockchain technology is the lesser time it takes to process and initialize transactions. Transaction time that would take days using the traditional methods can now be done within seconds or minutes which is a game changer as there would be more time to get other productive tasks done.

✅ TRANSPARENCY: The way the blockchain works in general makes it transparent. Every computer on the blockchain network, has an instance of the blockchain on it. This benefit, guarantees the Blockchain to be indestructible and unalterable. The users of the Blockchain have the power to control all transactions and information.
The more the computers on the blockchain, the more transparent and safer the system becomes.

✅ TRACEABILITY: The Blockchain is designed in a way that it can detect any problem and correct them if need be.

✅ NETWORK DISTRIBUTION: A blockchain technology has the ability to accommodate lots of users at the same time and offer the same operations or services without any failure or lags on the network. Network is been distributed equally nobody is treated specially, every user enjoys the same benefits without no segregation.

✅ LOW COSTS FOR USERS: The decentralized nature of Blockchain, allows for the validation of person-to-person transactions quickly and securely. Eliminating the need for an intermediary that would charge extra for their own operations. Hence, reduces costs for users.

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DISADVANTAGES

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Despite how exceptionally beneficial the blockchain technology is, sadly there are some disadvantages.
Just like with almost everything in life, there's always a good part as well as well as a not so good part. Some of the disadvantages of the Blockchain technology are:

📌High energy consumption: The main disadvantage of the blockchain is that it is not environmental friendly. The energy consumption is ridiculously high and this is expected because it is a real-time ledger. It gets updated every time a new node is created and at the same time, communicates with each and other node. Though this is way the transparency is created, its energy consumption seems wasteful. I am sure solutions are coming up on this issue as I have even heard of some blockchain companies implementing solar energy to power their blockchain. The sooner these solutions are implemented the better.

📌High cost of implementation: So many countries, firms and organizations really wished to have their system built on a blockchain technology. Just as we also said, it has low costs for users, the implementation costs of having a blockchain in company system is very high and this serve as delay to mass adoption of Blockchain.

📌Storage: Storage is becoming an issue for company making use of the blockchain technology system, there are now so many data's to be saved and kept secured but there are already exceeding the capacity of the storage ability and this has been a drawback for some companies and firms.

📌Unemployment: The implementation of Blockchain has really rendered a lot of people jobless because most companies now make use of automated machine to offer service which is fast and very accurate and this has limited the amount of physical labour in our industries and company.

📌High maintenance cost: The cost of maintaining a blockchain is so much. Though, it's very good but to maintain but when the cost is very high, it is limiting especially the small-scale businesses from been able to upgrade their technology to such system.

📌Data Modification is Difficult: In blockchain technology, it is difficult to change or modify data after it has been recorded. This fact, I must say, is considered as the major advantages and disadvantages of the blockchain technology. Considering the not so good part, the process of data modification requires rewriting of codes and indulges in a rather extensive process.

The major disadvantages of the blockchain technology here are the excess consumption of energy and irreversible/immutable records and its stressful/demanding modification process.

Discuss the future of blockchain, and how this technology is impacting the world.

The future of Blockchain looks so bright and promising to the world's economy because it is built on security and efficiency. As a peer-to-peer distributed digital ledger of transactions that are time-stamped, the blockchain technology's applications virtually has no end. From data collected in research and analysis work, the technology can help revolutionize security, lending, consumerism, digital property and business models.

This is what the world needs right now because there so many projects that have failed due to human errors and human inefficiency but with the introduction of Blockchain in all sectors and firms, so many problems will be solved and more progress will come to the world in general. Some of the areas the technology is having an impact or would have an impact if implemented are:

(1) Electoral process: The electoral process is very poor especially in Africa, most of the election results are not too real due to the fact that it is being conducted by humans and this is making many people feel cheated. Why I am so concerned about the electoral process is that many wrong people have been placed in power due to bad way of conducting elections and this has killed a lot of countries especially in Africa. This is why implementing a voting system that is built on the blockchain technology would go a long way in ensuring transparency in electoral practices and completely eliminate these negatives activities that comes with conventional voting processes.

(2) Medical sector: The medical sector could be completely revolutionized by the implementation of the blockchain technology and it is no news by now that some countries are gradually integrating this technology in their medical sector. Medical data about patients are not 100% safe and secure in the present healthcare system due to the way they are being stored and accessed. In the skilled and wrong hands information or data about any patient could be accessed leaving the patient at risk. Also, the time spent going through numerous records before locating the desired one might take too long in some cases. All these and other related issues and obstacles in the conventional health care sector could be solved by adopting blockchain technology.

(3) Payments of salaries: The issue of transparency is really causing a lot of problems in our government agencies because workers complain every now and then that their salary gets delayed or in some worker's cases, they do not receive their salary at all and this is usually due to technical issues with the conventional system. Blockchain technology that automatically pay workers salary will ensure prompt payment of salaries and every worker's inclusion in a transparent way. On the other way round, the government also complains of ghost workers and some many people working in two or more places which is really draining the economy but if all the data of the workers are properly saved through a blockchain technology, it will be easy to fish out offenders and make things cleaner and more transparent

(4) Cybersecurity: In today's world where everything is now digitalized and virtually everyone is using the internet to get things done, protection on the internet is very crucial and sadly it is an issue most of us take for granted. Scammers or malicious users are working around the clock to counter securities on the internet by developing viruses and other security threats. Though, in the past a lot of cybersecurity companies have come with technologies and applications to deal with these malicious users but at a very huge cost.
Moreover, the solutions different companies came up with varies. Blockchain technology can provide a more standard and globally accepted solution to all forms of cyber threats as it is a decentralized system and all assets, data or info stored on it are encrypted using cryptographic algorithm and due to its p2p (peer-to-peer) connections, any suspicious or irregular activates can be easily detected and needed actions can be taken.

(5) Supply chain management: Managing the flow of goods and services from production or manufacturing of the products all the way to the final consumer is a major task and things could go horribly wrong at times. But, blockchain technology adoption can improve supply chain management by enabling delivery of products faster and more cost-efficient, enhancing the traceability of products', improving cooperation and coordination among partners and in general ensures smooth movement of the product through each link in the chain.

What is your opinion about the implementation of blockchains in the health sector? Has the implementation been positive or negative? Explain a use case.

I strongly support that blockchain technology be implemented in the health sector of every country as it would help solve almost all the issues currently facing the sector like the not too secure nature of patient's data, management of medical products and equipment's supply chain, payment of medical personnel salaries or wages etc.

(1) Patients' data: In most hospitals or health care center around the world, patients' data are stored in files and in bigger hospitals, on conventional databases. But with this method of storing records, it leaves patients data vulnerable to unauthorized access. Another disadvantage of storing records using this method is accessibility and traceability. It can be difficult in some cases to access or trace patient records.

(2) Medical products supply chain: Medical products such as Drugs, hospital beds, medical equipments etc. needs better monitoring and management from production till they get to the hospitals and eventually to final consumers. As this would help prevent expiring of products especially medicines before they get to the final consumers. Counterfeit drugs would also be traceable and gotten rid of etc.

(3) Payment of medical personnels: Doctors, nurses, surgeons, cleaners etc. deserves the best and one way to compensate them for their crucial role in the society is prompt payment of their wages or salaries. There should not be any delay or issues with their payment. Their prompt payment and compensation should be a top priority and this is not the case in most health care center. The reason for this might be due to technical issues with the financial firm or payment services responsible of due to bad planning and organization.

Nevertheless, I believe one way or the other blockchain technology adoption could put an end to all these issues currently facing most health sectors.

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From articles I have read during my research, the implementation of blockchain has had a positive effect on healthcare centers that have adopted it just like I was expecting.

A use case is MediLedger, a leading example of a blockchain protocol which enables industries or companies involved in the prescription drug supply chain to verify the authenticity of medicines, also to check for expiry dates and other crucial information.

I think I have emphasized enough how important managing supply chain is, most importantly in the health care sector. Great work the team at MediLedger has done in building a blockchain protocol like this.

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CONCLUSION

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Blockchain technology has evolved greatly over the years and has helped revolutionize many sectors of economies that have adopted it. It is here to stay and it is only best if many nations can adopt it and unleash its full potential.

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Thanks so much for reading, please do comment your thoughts and recommend any suggestions you have.

I would like to use this oppurtunity to invite my friends @olawole111, @ebunoluwani, @kennydavebobo, @ojerindejoel, @patjewell to participate in this interesting contest.