Blockchain is not an intuitive technology, at least not at first, so what better introduction could there be, than a tech fairy tale?
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The long tapestry begins, hanging in space, far down the village well. It is woven from an endless single thread of fine silk which winds its way back and forth, forming a never ending series of rows. At the top of the well sits the weaver, feeding thread across his needles and repeatedly interlocking it with the previous row.
The coming and going people whisper their stories into the weaver’s ear. At their request he subtly modifies every stitch in order to spell out the letters of their words, forever recording them in the fabric.
A curious passer by pulls up the tapestry and reads through the tales that stretch back generations. She spends many hours reading the thoughts of people long since gone and then lowers it back into the well. Later, she wonders, “could all of those stories be true?” It is just a tapestry, anyone could have pulled it up and delicately undone and rearranged a few stitches here and there, re-writing history. She quickly realises that any tampering at all would have required a cut, revealing two fresh ends of silk. Gravity’s long arms would have found these two ends and pulled on them, unwinding one by one, every stitch. Although unaware of the small cut, the ensuing cascade of unraveling thread would race upwards towards the weaver’s needles until suddenly, there would be nothing left for him to weave upon. She can be sure of the testimony.
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