Blockchain Metaphor
Blockchain technology is a confusing concept to wrap your mind around. Our ability to understand what it means is like finding the right container of words to unpack. Since thinking is like object manipulation and ideas are like objects that can be formed in different ways, let’s see if we can grasp blockchain via a metaphor.
I recently had an epiphany. I have been trying to find a good metaphor to explain blockchain. I woke up this morning still half a sleep and a thought entered my mind.
Blockchain is like our pattern of thought. To understand this, we must first make a mental map. It’s like a blind man using a cane to navigate an unknown room. Like the blind man, let’s use a metaphorical cane to reach out and touch the idea of blockchain. See Figure 1 for an overview of the metaphorical cane.
Network
The best explanation I found in attempting to grasp the concept of blockchain was written by Maryanne Murray in A Reuters Visual Guide: Blockchain Explained.
