In this blog, we will tackle subjects of interest to all involved in the digital economy – and let’s face it, by now this is the majority of people, if they want it or not. With every mobile phone call, smartphone app download, on-line banking transaction, we all contribute to a thriving economy. But all develops around us, and some jargon or terminology emerges that sounds “Chinese” to us.
I came across two articles that I want to share.
The first provides an incredibly clear explanation for an incredibly complex subject: Bitcoins and Blockchains by Mohit Mamoria. While it may be an eye-opener for many, there remain still some questions to be answered: What if the entire system breaks down? And where does the original funding come from?
The second deals with an increasingly difficult segmentation of our language(s). And I do not talk about terminology in different languages, no, I merely talk about the English language. Most of us are acquainted with “Eurospeak”, the most common spoken language in Brussels between places de Luxembourg and Schumann. But new communities form new terms, often inspired by EU jargon. One case is the start-up community, often composed of youngsters that are brilliant or consider themselves as brilliant (I met both). One word they use more often than any other is “disruptive”. If you thought that this is an utterly negative word (in the original sense of “troublesome”) you are wrong. Already many years ago, research programmes of the EU called for “disruptive technology”. In the meantime, the word went through a metamorphosis, and everybody wants to be “disruptive”, which in start-up-speak equals “highly innovative, never seen before” etc. Here the most amusing article by Dan Kelsall. Enjoy!
emfs.eu 