You’ve likely heard some of your more tech-oriented friends mention blockchain within the last year or two, and with good reason.

Blockchain is a distributed ledger technology that is mostly associated with cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin and Ethereum. You might think that, since you have no interest in using cryptocurrencies for your shopping life, that blockchain will never directly impact you.

Think again.

Blockchain is mostly used in conjunction with the cryptocurrency world at the moment, but the future is bright with a wealth of possibilities when it comes to this technology.

But what even is blockchain? What uses can it have outside of cryptocurrency? How will blockchain impact your life directly in the years to come?

What is Blockchain?

Blockchain is what’s called a decentralized system. It records and documents transactions that individuals enter into when using digital currency. It helps to think of it as a ledger. It creates and keeps identical copies across every computer that’s connected to a network.

What makes this far reaching is that anyone can access blockchain to review information or record new data. If you’re thinking that this could pose a security risk, you’re wrong. Every block, or group of records, is protected through some of the world’s most secure cryptography. This ensures that anything that has been recorded cannot be tampered with or deleted. That’s why cryptocurrencies maintain their network without having to fall under governmental oversight.

Blockchain distributes and tracks digital information but does not allow it to be copied. The use of such a service goes beyond digital money. It has the ability to create a whole new and more secure internet.

It works in a series of steps.

1. A user requests a transaction.
2. That transaction is sent to a peer-to-peer network which is made up of a number of computers that are called nodes.
3. Using a series of proven algorithms, the nodes work together to validate the transaction. (These transactions can involve contracts, records, and most commonly cryptocurrency)
4. After the transaction has been approved it is logged with a series of similar transactions in the ledger as a “block” of information.
5. That block is added to the massive overall blockchain. This information is secure in that it is permanent and, most importantly for some, untraceable. That’s why cryptocurrency transactions are so secure.

But what kind of use will this technology have in our future?

Worldwide Transactions

Payments that cross international borders are notoriously complicated, and the services that facilitate these transfers are expensive. That’s because the act of making a transaction in two different forms of currency typically involves various banking organizations in a number of different geographic locations. The end result is a long drawn out process that can only be expedited at great cost.

How great you ask? Typical services charge a fee of 20% to speed up the transfer of funds across borders. That’s a ridiculous amount of money.

Enter blockchain.

Using this technology, we can speed the process along at a far lower price. Some have estimated that blockchain remittance costs could be as low as 2%. The transactions would also occur in real time, meaning that users would have their money instantly. No more lengthy waiting periods!  

In order for this to occur though, cryptocurrencies would have to become more regulated, which is something the crypto community venomously rejects. Most experts agree though, that it’s not a matter of if the industry falls under regulations, but when.

Smart Contracts

Taking a step away from cryptocurrencies for a moment, blockchain’s unique agreement making and execution capabilities could make smart contracts a common occurrence in the future.

Smart contracts use blockchain to automate all aspects of an agreement. It logs the agreement between two parties in a way that is completely secure, and automatically executes the contract when conditions are met.

For instance, a restaurant using blockchain technology could charge a customer’s checking account the moment that a meal is finished, instead of worrying about someone trying to run out the door with the bill unpaid.

Copyright Infringement

Internet piracy has been a huge issue since the early 2000’s when programs like Napster and Limewire enabled users to share music for free amongst one another. This eventually extended to pirating movies, pirating books, and any other kind of copyrighted content.

Blockchain could be the answer to that problem, which would be very popular with content creators and less so with content pirates.

Blockchain can create a unique token attached to every piece of media that we consume, specific to the individual purchaser. That information would be logged on the blockchain, so that there is a record showing where pirated content originates from.

Identity Theft Security

Blockchain can help users hold onto their identities in an increasingly unstable online world. Cyber criminals have cost the world hundreds of millions of dollars in misappropriated funds as a result of identity theft.

But with blockchain technology, there is no server to hack to obtain someone’s records. Instead of using information like a social security number to verify one’s identity, computers would access the user’s digital record of identity. This could even be applied to biometrics, such as a finger print or optic scan. Your records would be untraceable and uncrackable, allowing users to keep their most precious information out of the hands of criminals.

Stop Tax and Voter Fraud

Since there have been governments on this planet there have been people who try to defraud them. There are two major areas in which people try to pull a fast one on Uncle Sam: taxes and voting.

Some common schemes that cost the government dearly every year include stealing a person’s tax refund or stealing someone’s vote in an election.

Blockchain would keep your tax and voter information secure in a public ledger, securing it with the same kind of biometric key we discussed above. This would keep track of your contact with the IRS and enable online voting to take over.

Imagine an election day where, instead of having to wake up early to make it to you local polling location to cast your ballot before work, you could log in once you wake up using your fingerprint and vote from the comfort of your home.

All of that is achievable with blockchain technology.

In Conclusion

Blockchain is one of the most fascinating and exciting pieces of technology to come along in years. That’s why it’s important to start learning as much as you can about it now, so that when this technology catches up with the world, you won’t be left behind.

Computers were invented to interact with humans. These machines have always functioned by receiving commands from a user and performing a task accordingly. In the past, those tasks were relayed through code, or in the case of the earliest computers back in the 1970s, a punch card.

But times change, and as technology advances, so too does the means by which we communicate with it. That’s where Natural Language Processing comes into play.

Natural Language Processing, or NLP, allows computer programs to understand spoken language. It is an advancement in the field of artificial intelligence.

The main issue surrounding the inability of humans and computers to interact seamlessly was a language barrier. Machines do not speak the same language as us. They understand binary code, which is a series of millions of ones and zeroes that instruct a computer in completing their tasks. Systems have been set up where, with the press of a button or the click of a mouse, that computing language is relayed at the speed of light, allowing machines to understand our wishes.

That has all changed with the birth of NLP. We’ve all experienced advancements in this field. From Amazon’s Alexa, to Google Assistant, to Apple’s Siri, we now communicate with technology directly on an everyday basis.

“Alexa, order a new set of lightbulbs.”

“Ok Google, where is the best Chinese food near me?”

“Hey Siri, what song is this?”

Through the advancement of NLP, we’re always just a sentence away from the information and actions that we want.

But how does NLP work? What other uses does it have? What advantages can we expect to see from this technology in years to come?

How Does NLP Work?

NLP currently works through a process called deep learning.

Deep learning has the artificial intelligence look at data patterns to deepen its understanding of language. Huge amounts of labelled data are inputted to help the system identify relevant correlations.

Language is broken down into shorter elemental pieces in order to teach the machine to understand their relationships and how they work together. Bu doing this, the computer can ascertain the meaning behind a sentence.

Some of these data pieces include:

• Categorization: This is a document summary based on linguistics. It includes indexing and searching, detection of duplicates, and content alerts.
• Modeling and Topics: This helps machines understand the themes and meaning within a collection of text. They then take that meaning and approach it from an advanced analytical standpoint.
• Context: Computers gain the ability to pull specific contextual information from text.
• Sentiment: Systems can understand the mood behind text. It analyzes the opinions expressed.
• Speech-To-Text: This is a back and forth system that allows a machine to take a voice command and transform it into text. It also allows the computer to take written text and relay it vocally.
• Summarization: Allows the computer to create a synopsis of a large text body.
• Machine Translation: The computer can automatically translate text or speech from one language into another.

Deep learning represents a more fluid and intuitive approach to learning. By understanding the intention of the users, computers are able to learn language in the same way a child would. A human toddler listens to language, ascertains its meaning, and relays it back through a series of trial and error until fluency is achieved.

NLP works the same way, only in a much faster way.

What are the Uses of NLP?

Does NLP have a higher purpose beyond just telling you the movie times or reading off Yelp reviews?

Of course it does.

Search is the main function of NLP right now. We use many of the services mentioned above to find the information that we need. Whether that’s some arbitrary fact you and a friend are arguing over or a piece of information you need for a research project, searching via voice is far easier and more effective than manually inputting information.

When you ask your phone a question the machine is able to isolate the most important elements of your query. That’s why voice searches are usually so fast.

NLP can also be used to digitize hard copy information, making it easy to analyze and search for. Whereas once, a human operator would have to manually input all of the information, telling the computer what it all means and how to file it, NLB allows the system to understand the text on its own and file it accordingly.

Using the sentiment analysis that we discussed in the last section, businesses could have a better understanding of how their customers feel about their product or service. Computer systems can analyze large amounts of online comments and reviews to determine whether a business is succeeding or failing in the public eye.

In Conclusion

Natural Language Processing is the future of technology. We’ve already come so far since the creation of the first virtual assistant programs. Many of us entrust these artificial intelligences with vital tasks like keeping track of our schedules. As we continue to deepen and enrich artificial intelligence programs, we can be sure that NLP will have a strong place in our daily lives for years to come.