|
Blockchain is a secure digital ledger for any kind of data that allows for peer-to-peer exchanges using cryptographic, secure protocols. It has the ability to “codify” transactions by deploying small snippets of code – known as smart contracts – directly onto the blockchain.
But smart contracts pose a series of enforceability issues and it’s unclear whether code can address the necessary levels of complexity to replace legal language. And this will need to be resolved if the technology is ever to go mainstream, say Primavera de Filippi and Wolfgang Drechsler.
|
Blockchain is an exciting technology, but for it to go mainstream governments must be able to regulate it.
Name Coin/Flick
Vasilis Kostakis, Tallinn University of Technology; Primavera de Filippi, Centre national de la recherche scientifique (CNRS); Wolfgang Drechsler, National University of Singapore
Laws cannot keep pace with technological advances – but that may not be a bad thing.
|
Health + Medicine
|
-
Sonia Allan, Monash University
The person who takes office on July 1 2017 will have significant impact on the organisation, and on all of global health.
-
Ngozi Erondu, London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine
To tackle diseases like meningitis, African governments must find fresh ways to fight for lower cost vaccines.
|
|
Arts + Culture
|
-
Glen Ncube, University of Pretoria
A global approach to African history complements the radical post-colonial histories, while also asserting the role of the continent in the world's global pasts and present.
|
|
Politics + Society
|
-
Harald Sander, Technical University of Cologne
Centrist candidate Emmanuel Macron's plan to reform the eurozone if elected is easier made than implemented.
|
|
