Author: Sara Molina Pérez-Tomé – Founder of NIZE Partners and Blockchain in Legal Lecturer at IMMUNE Technology Institute
Behind every technology lies the need to seek more efficient, more global, faster or more sustainable solutions to human problems. In the case of blockchain In my opinion, a key ontological concept underlies this: the search for truth.
This term has evolved over the centuries from truth in Greece, or ἀλήθεια (aletheia), which was understood as something permanent above changing circumstances. Thus, for Plato, Aristotle and Heidegger, it was the discovery of being, which is hidden by the veil of appearance. Subsequently, empirical truth, or ἐμπειρία (experience), whose origin is deduced through the observation of relationships between objects, making it the ideal basis for laws from Knowledge. Up to the current concept of truth as Veritas, understood as the adequacy between what we think or express and reality.
Thus, based on this last etymology, we find its meaning in the RAE of which the meanings that seem especially relevant in this case are:
- The conformity of things with the concept which the mind forms of them.
- Conformity of what is said with what is felt or thought.
- The property a thing has of always remaining the same without any alteration.
- Reality (the actual existence of something).
But the technology it is not “neutral” and the values are embedded from the outset in the code that creates it. The definition of the problem and who builds the solution, how it is programmed and implemented, who has access and what rules are created, have long-term consequences and implications for society and individuals. Furthermore, due to its immutability and decentralisation, blockchain it has the potential to create transparency, provide distributed verification and generate trust across multiple systems, having an incalculable social impact, for example, being able to address the problems of marginalised or underserved people in ways previously unimaginable.
Another key concept in this technology is found in the concept of the value represented in the tokens. Based on this and from a humanistic ethical perspective, if we understand the wealth of societies in which the capitalist mode of production prevails, we must understand the concept of a commodity as an object that serves to satisfy required human needs. And within this concept, it is key to understand the difference between use-value based on its utility and exchange-value.
The usefulness of a thing makes it a use-value. The concept of utility is determined by the material properties of the commodity, and it cannot exist without the commodity itself.
However, exchange-value presents itself as quantitative relation. As use-values, commodities have certain distinctive qualities; as exchange-values, they differ only in quantity.
How to measure the magnitude of its value now? By the quantum of «value-creating» or “labour” substance it contains. The measure of the quantity of labour is the time of its duration and, in turn, time of labour is measured in parts, such as the hour, the day, etc. It will thus be said that the value of a commodity is given by the quantum of labour expended in its production. (Marx, Capital,Bk 1, Sec 1, Ch 1.)
For all these reasons, the implications of these concepts are more than interesting for the native design of asset tokenisation using blockchain technology.
In the following diagram, each of the axes referred to is differentiated digitally at different levels. Business models, based on use-value and exchange-value, as blockchain it can fit perfectly into the offshored and social benefit quadrant, being applied in favour of causes oriented towards the solution of social problems, with an enormous impact.
Therefore, as with any other technology, in the applications and implementation of the blockchain, it is fundamental to understand that seemingly innocuous design choices have profound ethical implications in people's lives.
If you are looking to learn which of those options might be most suitable for your needs, we invite you to explore the legal advice applied to the Blockchain technology, as well as learning about its impact and potential in the Blockchain in Legal programme, which lasts 40 hours.
Developed by IMMUNE Technology Institute, a leader in technology education, the «Blockchain in Legal» programme will give you a thorough understanding of Blockchain technology from scratch, as our programme is structured so that no prior knowledge is required. For more information, please consult our programme.
