Interview with Zheng Zhiming, Academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences: Blockchain is a relatively mature and reliable evaluation system built for the first time in human history

Source: Xinhuanet

Editor's Note: The original title was "Academician Zheng Zhiming: Blockchain Research Needs" Long Time for Merit "

Xinhuanet, Beijing, December 3rd (Yan Yuxin), an academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences Zheng Zhiming said in an exclusive interview with Xinhuanet reporters that blockchain is a relatively mature and trusted evaluation system built for the first time in human history. Governance capabilities.

From information interconnection to value circulation

In Zheng Zhiming's eyes, the development of information technology has roughly gone through three stages: the first stage is the Internet, which solves the problem of information interconnection; the second stage is mobile interconnection, which can build a platform for everyone to connect at any time through a smartphone 5G, which is being developed at this stage, aims to build the third stage of the "Internet of Everything", which is the Internet of Things.

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He believes that when information is connected and people are connected, the next step is the free connection of value. And there is a premise for the free connection of value-trust. Only when a trust relationship is formed, can the value flow freely. Therefore, it is very important to have a way to establish a low-cost credit channel. The blockchain is also attracting much attention because of carrying such functions.

Judging from the rise of the blockchain, its "venture" undoubtedly begins with "Bitcoin". Zheng Zhiming attributed the hustle and bustle of digital assets to the 1.0 stage of blockchain development. He believes that the 2.0 phase is characterized by smart contracts and local applications. "There are some very important applications, but they are not enough," Zheng Zhiming told reporters. In fact, blockchain technology should slowly penetrate into the entire industry and ecology of a large number of human economic and social life. This is the 3.0 stage, or Called "programmable society."

He believes that the 3.0 stage blockchain will become one of the important technical tools of social governance. The so-called "governance" is the ability to have a full range of penetrating supervision, and "reason" is the ability to build new and efficient production relationships.

Zheng Zhiming said that no one knows how long it will take from 2.0 to 3.0, which is closely related to the acceptance of the society and the speed of technological development.

"In the future, we must focus on breaking the application capability of blockchain as a governance tool. Only by taking the courage to sharpen our sword for ten years and using the blockchain to" grow for a long time "can we improve the level of social governance in our country. Technical connotation. "He said.

 

Urgent problems to be overcome

Sight is back to China. At present, China is making an overall layout of blockchain technology at the national level. A number of industries including industrial Internet and digital finance are moving towards data sharing, reducing operating costs, and improving collaboration efficiency. .

According to Zheng Zhiming's observation, there are currently a group of experts dedicated to the research of blockchain technology in China. From the technical circle to the industry, there are many forces concentrating on blockchain-related businesses. Therefore, China's research and development on blockchain is positive. In a very good development situation.

But he also frankly stated that there are still some difficulties that need to be overcome to really do a good job of this matter. "In principle, blockchain is a 'ternary paradox' problem, that is, the coupling of the three systems of security system, efficiency system, and distributed system is mutually constrained. So far, both China and China Europe and the United States still have a lot of room for improvement in both theoretical and applied research. "

"I will talk about 'trusting'." Zheng Zhiming believes that in addition to the "distributed" features often mentioned, the most innovative part of blockchain technology now is to build a trust system by building a consensus mechanism. "Just like the" three-body "problem in nature, the laws of operation between the three stars rely on gravity, and in the blockchain world created by human technology, the information interaction between nodes depends on consensus."

He also said that it is not easy to obtain "consensus" on the chain at this stage. The greater the degree of freedom, the higher the cost of consensus. How to form a consensus and reduce the cost of consensus at the same time is a very important issue for studying blockchain.

In addition, from a technical point of view, Zheng Zhiming believes that most of the domestic enthusiasm is currently focused on the topic of commercial application development. There are relatively few R & D personnel in blockchain technology. We should pay more attention to the substantive solutions to key technologies. Ecologically speaking, we should continue to guide and improve the construction of personnel teams and the establishment of points of interest.

Is the "Blockchain Era" Coming ?

When it comes to the "hot" issue of the blockchain, Zheng Zhiming believes that this phenomenon is mixed. "The joy is that everyone is very enthusiastic, and the worry is that it is easy to deviate from the theme." Zheng Zhiming said that when the "bind appeared" with Bitcoin, everyone felt that the blockchain was playing currency, and then when banks could use this technology People also regard blockchain as fintech.

"I think that various industries should start to calm down now, do a good job in the basic theoretical research of the blockchain, and focus on conquering some key technologies, in order to avoid this kind of blind speculation at this stage, so that blockchain technology can be used in Our country has developed more benign and healthy. "Zheng Zhiming said.

When asked if hot money inflows meant more stringent regulation, Zheng Zhiming said that blockchain is making regulation easier. "After the blockchain technology, as long as you put a regulatory node in this system and put national or local laws and regulations into smart contracts, then it can achieve a 'penetration' of a blockchain technology and application platform "Supervision can avoid the situation that there are policies on the top and countermeasures on the bottom," and "one person gets sick and all take medicine."

As for whether the "blockchain era" is coming, Zheng Zhiming believes that this depends on how we define the "blockchain era". Really hope to move towards the era of blockchain. We must achieve a huge breakthrough in theory and technology, construct an autonomous, secure and controllable blockchain bottom platform with good performance. At the same time, blockchain technology can be applied on a large scale in the industry and ecology. Said to enter the era of blockchain.

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