This comment is more relevant to the update to your post but, I try to see "hype/fads" as the learning opportunity you are describing as opposed to the "game ch

This comment is more relevant to the update to your post but, I try to see "hype/fads" as the learning opportunity you are describing as opposed to the "game changer" they are often portrayed to be. That is, find what is good, new, novel or useful in the new ideas and figure out how to add it to the toolchest. Other comments have already covered good ideas, but in addition I personally would consider reviewing how database log files work, ACID vs. BASE properties of database transactions, PAXOS, etc. I suspect blockchain is valuable because it helps solve the problem of distributed consensus and transaction coordination/recording. Seek out the roots that lead to this tech (distributed computing, distributed storage, cryptography, basic accounting/ledgers.. essentially transactions of some kind, whether social or economic, are the root of all human interactions). I think language is a little less critical for experimentation, as the rules for picking the right tool for the job still apply - if you need high precision or high performance, choose a language suitable to the task (languages that are good at systems programming and reliable for infrastructure coding are good recommendations). In social sciences, I would review the materials on identity, anonymity, transactional behaviors, decentralized/federated organizations and transparency, particularly the concept of trust and institutional trust.. as I think trust is an interesting angle on this issue. For example, trust networks via digital signatures in PGP MIGHT be informative. Lastly, how about digging through any open source projects for "coin" systems on Github to see how they are implemented.. like bitcoin core.