Blockchain Simply Explained using The Terminator

swayzilla(56)

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Many of you may be familiar with the Terminator movie series, and if you are not, then it's time to catch up because the sixth installment of the series, TerminatorDarkFate comes out November 2019!

So start watching and get your kids up to speed!

In this blog post, I will take your knowledge of the Terminator, and explain blockchain in a way that your friends and family may be able to understand when you bring it up after the movie. 😉

The Block Chain Format

SKYNET had developed thousands of cyborgs, and I'm assuming that there were T-100's before we came into contact with the T-800 in the first Terminator movie. So let's start with the first ever T-800, and then we will make our way to the Terminator we all know that traveled back in time to kill Sarah Connor.

The first T-800 ever made must have been one of thousands to wipe out mankind. The term first here is important, because this is what is referred to in Blockchain as the Genesis block. The first T-800 has his own unique serial number, with the mission of Seek and Destroy .

The Timestamp

Because the Terminator we all know in the movies travels back in time from the year 2029, we will say that 2029 is when the T-800's went into production. Let's make the Genesis of all T-800's be manufactured on the date of Janyary 14, 2029 at 1030 hours and 23 seconds. In Timestamp form, this would look something like this:

Timestamp: 20290114103023

The Data

Each block within the blockchain has it's own data such as how much cryptocurrency you currently have in your account. The Terminator's data was "Seek and Destroy".

Timestamp: 20290114103023
Data: Seek and Destroy

It's own Serial Number

In the blockchain world, the serial number is known as a hash, and it's a series of numbers and letters that may take a computer about 10 - 60 minutes to compute for verification purposes. This is called proof of work, and we will get into this concept in the next section.

Let's say Terminator's take 30 minutes to be assembled. When SKYNET manufactered the first ever T-800, he was given the Gensis hash. Let's give this T-800 the serial number (hash) of UrzwXokYRyiRVkf93sJT; that is now our Genesis serial number.

Timestamp: 20291114103023
Data: Kill Sarah Connor
Genesis Serial Number: UrzwXokYRyiRVkf93sJT

The Previous Serial Number

Because this Terminator was the first, noone was previous to him and therefore the 4th datapoint in the series would be 0.

Timestamp: 20291114103023
Data: Seek and Destroy
Genesis Serial Number: UrzwXokYRyiRVkf93sJT
Previous Terminator's Serial Number: 0

The Next Terminator

SKYNET would continue to make more Termatinors after the T-800, each taking 30 minutes to be made. This means the the second T-800 would have the following data:

Timestamp: 20290114110046
Data: Seek and Destroy
Serial Number of second T-800: LDZjRqEG6gjGIwNHIfqH
Serial Number of the Genesis T-800: UrzwXokYRyiRVkf93sJT

The third T-800 would carry over the serial number of the second Terminator, and in JavaScript stringify format, the code would look similar to the following:

T-800 [20290114113023, "Seek and Destroy", OUYYtdUV6Toyr8GF3EXg, LDZjRqEG6gjGIwNHIfqH]

During the manufacturing process, there would be a group of validators who would verify that the serial numbers match for each one. In the Blockchain world, the amount of time it takes to generate a hash is done on purpose so that the validators can ensure that the chain has not been tampered with, this is called Proof of Work. Sometimes however there may be reasons why we may want to assign a new serial number as described in the next section.

Forking

SKYNET would continue to make T-800s until one day they decide to develop one of the T-800s to travel back in time and kill Sarah Connor. In the blockchain world, this is known as forking. A fork can be defined as what happens when a blockchain diverges into two potential paths forward, a change in protocol, or other various reasons. As was the case with Bitcoin and Bitcoin Cash, and Ethereum and Ethereum Classic.

Let's imagine that the T-800 developed to Kill Sarah Connor was manufactured in July of 2029. Because this T-800 has a different mission than the others, this T-800 would be the Genesis of the Terminators programmed to kill Sarah Connor.

T-800 [20290720143045, "Kill Sarah Connor", CSuMY1xSjS4o1XzrwI9H, "0"]

SKYNET would continue to develop T-800s until they became obsolute, eventually manufacturing the T-1000. Let's imagine that the T-1000 started production on August 18th 2029 at 1430 hours and 23 seconds for Terminator 2: Judgement Day. T-1000 was a huge improvement from the T-800, as it was made out of liquid metal, giving it the ability to take on the shape and appearance of almost anything it touches.

The same process that occured for the T-800, would happen for the T-1000. There would be a Genesis T-1000 and eventually one of the T-1000's would fork over for the mission of killing Sarah Connor and whoeer gets in his way.

T-1000 [20291118143023, "Kill Sarah Connor AND Whoever Gets in My Way", baiNbhVDlt1rVSE35mEi, "0" ]

Terminator that helped

Some of you may ask, what about the T-800 in the second movie that helps John?

Well, the T-800 in the second movie is a good example of what would happen if someone were to tamper with or corrupt a block. If someone were to try and go into the data of a block and change it, such as changing the amount of cryptocurrency they received, then the system would automatically generate a new serial number for that block, and make a new serial number for the data in the previous block. When this happens, the previous block hash would not match, and the chain would be broken, therefore creating an error.

Corrupted T-800 [20291114103023, "Help John", new serial number, no matching serial number]

When this happens, the block is broken out of the chain, and there is no way of going back. Think of it as being blacklisted at the bar, and never being allowed to get back in. Or rather, "Hasta la vista, baby". Of course, there are ways that the block could be added to the chain, but this would need more than 50% consensus of the validators, which is highly unlikely to happen.

Blockchain resources

I hope that this helped clear up how a Blockchain works. If you stil have questions, you can refer to this youtube video which covers how a Blockchain may be developed in JavaScript.