TKS Session 17: Blockchain + Velocity Session 7
We are back up and running again! The break was such a good time to reset and recharge for the new year, especially after the big IKEA challenge that took place. Now, I’m feeling ready to get back into the groove and start fresh.
For this velocity session, we had no requirements to do during the break, so instead of discussing those like we usually do, we gave updates on how we have progressed in our focuses. For my progress, I am close to finishing reading papers revolving around gene editing phages for my review paper that I will be writing hopefully this week. We then discussed the plan for the next 2 months, which is to try and make as much focus progress (even finish your focus soon) before we get busy again with more challenges and projects.
For the actual session, we began with a little game that we played in groups, which was where we asked each other questions that we generated through the game’s platform. The goal was mainly to get to know the people you don’t normally hang out with.
Then, we did a little reflection on how the IKEA challenge went for our groups. We reflected on ourselves, our group dynamics, and then made a plan for what we could do in the future.
As for myself in the challenge, I thought I did well at producing work that needed to get done, as well as communicating with my team and playing my part in having effective team dynamics together. Something I need to improve on in the next challenge is identifying my priorities at the start, but then creating an effective plan/schedule for myself so I can better evaluate what I can put on a lower priority for the duration of the challenge and what can be attended to later and etc.
For the next challenge, some recommendations that we were all given in order to perform better include:
Select teammates with the same priority level (I would say in this challenge our team did do that)
Anticipate worst-case scenarios and plan
Make a social contract and follow through with it
Treat others the way you want to be treated
Call people 1-1 rather than text, you can communicate better that way
Resolve things in less than 24 hrs to avoid a stall in your plan
The mindset of the week that we discussed is biased towards action. This means that when you have an idea you want to do, don’t overthink it because a) it wastes time and you’re not actually making progress/getting results, and b) you lose motivation the longer you think about it, and you may not go through with the idea at all.
But it is important to still think as well because thinking it through is how we keep ourselves safe and protect ourselves from making horrible life-altering decisions. Biased towards action mainly means that when you have an idea you are passionate about and want to see yourself make progress with it, go ahead and just start doing it.
After that, we talked about the focus for this session, blockchain. Blockchain is a decentralized digital ledger. I’ve looked at decentralized designs before with my work in the Microsoft Youth Hackathon and the TKS Explore Hackathon. An example of this is where instead of having one big and central power plant in the middle of the city, where all the houses and buildings need to find their way to connect to the center, you can have multiple smaller power plants spread out around the city where everyone can have easy access and connection, while spreading out the density of electricity in one place, and also limiting the likelihood of the system being overloaded. This overall makes the power plant system more reliable and accessible for everyone.
Blockchain uses this decentralized design for storing things like data or information about all the different entities (that’s where the digital ledger part comes in) on that blockchain. Something to keep in mind is that there isn’t just one blockchain, blockchain is a technological infrastructure that can be manipulated for many uses.
The data is stored in a digital ledger in “blocks”. The blocks are made every time a new piece of data is added, removed, or updated. Those blocks then become chained together across a network of computers/nodes. Everything is organized and can be recalled in order, but it all isn’t stored in the same place (the decentralized design). This makes it more encrypted and more trustworthy for people to use, which is one of the pros of using blockchain technology for things like crypto or NFTs, where money is involved. Blocks can only be made by the computer in the network by solving a complex problem and finding the solution. This part is the proof of work stage. That computer will then share the solution with all the other computers in the network. Then, the other computers verify the solution to ensure it is correct, which prevents any fraudulent blocks from being added to the blockchain. Once it’s been verified, the block is added to the chain and will be there for anyone to look back on.
Blockchain has many different applications, mainly removing the middleman in situations like between buyers and sellers (middlemen are the platforms you purchase the item), money and people (middlemen could be the banks), etc. The middleman is replaced by a smart contract, which is signed between the two parties when part of a deal. Blockchain can also be used to store the history of different entities, for example, the owners of an estate since it was first owned.
After learning about how blockchain works, we got into doing a couple of activities exploring blockchain and its application with NFTs and different cryptocurrencies. We first began by creating an actual NFT and uploading it onto a platform where people can buy and sell NFTs. I AI generated an NFT of a chocolate ice cream (if you buy the NFT I’ll make a collection of different ice cream flavours) and put it online for people to buy. When someone buys this NFT, a ledger will start forming of all the past owners of that NFT so you can track who has had it and its source.
After doing that, some of us went on to code our own ERC20 coin using test (fake) currency. If you were to make your own functional coin, you would have to put real money into its creation so it can have worth rather than the test currency.
To end off session, we looked at what might be some other applications of blockchain technology. Some ideas people thought of could be to track the past owners of clothing from a thrift shop or to track the edits made to an organism’s genome over time. Some ideas I looked at that could relate to phage therapy included blockchain-powered phage libraries, smart contracts for clinical trials, or supply chain management of different phage therapies. This goes to show that blockchain has a vast range of applications.
Today’s session was really hands-on, and I think it was the best way to start off the new year and get back into the groove. I’m really excited to see what 2025 has in-store for me and the progress I will make. Hope everyone has a great year!
