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This is the exact opposite of how you should go about product market fit and is an anti-pattern that they are teaching students. If they were doing this the ri

This is the exact opposite of how you should go about product market fit and is an anti-pattern that they are teaching students. If they were doing this the right way, they would identify problems that exist that existing currency does not address and then work back to how they can solve them, which might include a blockchain based currency. But not the opposite approach. That said, can't wait for the students to come up with applications like "buying drugs" and "paying for kegs when you are underaged".

Isamu 7y ago
They are teaching them about blockchain applications specifically. This isn't about market fit. They appear to be attacking the VERY widespread problem of people applying a blockchain solution where it doesn't necessarily add value. What does a blockchain solution buy you? What doesn't it do for you? Do you really understand what it does and does not do? Given a student's proposed application, you could critique it based on whether the properties of a blockchain solution provide something unique that couldn't be provided easily with other approaches.
- wrs 7y ago
  The interesting thing will be whether any proposed applications would survive the critique. Perhaps the whole plan is to have the students learn that there are almost no sensible applications! (Is the CS department participating to generate alternative implementations for comparison?)
carlosdp 7y ago
> they would identify problems that exist that existing currency Modern blockchain cryptocurrencies aren't just about money use-cases. The currency is just the electricity in the wiring that drives more interesting applications, ie. things you can build with smart contracts.
excalibur 7y ago
If they were doing this the right way, they would not even consider using cryptocurrency and advise everyone they interact with against it, because it is egregiously wasteful and completely unsustainable.
- tuesdayrain 7y ago
  Your comment is only true for a subset of cryptocurrencies that use Proof of Work.
rolltiide 7y ago
It doesn't seem like they are doing any of what you said > Next, we will use these tools to evaluate existing, real-world blockchain use cases with an eye towards developing our own applications of these emerging technologies. Along the way, we will learn practical development skills in distributed ledger technologies to understand blockchain programming and application development. Finally, students will propose their own blockchain use cases for CMU's own proprietary blockchain.
- shadowgovt 7y ago
  Agreed. The course appears to be an exploration of the technology's potential, not an exploration of what it's already been used for or applications that may use the technology but could be solved some other way instead. From a pedagogy perspective, the technology is what is being taught and applications for the technology are being used as teaching tools.

Isamu 7y ago

They are teaching them about blockchain applications specifically. This isn't about market fit. They appear to be attacking the VERY widespread problem of people applying a blockchain solution where it doesn't necessarily add value. What does a blockchain solution buy you? What doesn't it do for you? Do you really understand what it does and does not do? Given a student's proposed application, you could critique it based on whether the properties of a blockchain solution provide something unique that couldn't be provided easily with other approaches.

wrs 7y ago
The interesting thing will be whether any proposed applications would survive the critique. Perhaps the whole plan is to have the students learn that there are almost no sensible applications! (Is the CS department participating to generate alternative implementations for comparison?)

carlosdp 7y ago

> they would identify problems that exist that existing currency Modern blockchain cryptocurrencies aren't just about money use-cases. The currency is just the electricity in the wiring that drives more interesting applications, ie. things you can build with smart contracts.

excalibur 7y ago

If they were doing this the right way, they would not even consider using cryptocurrency and advise everyone they interact with against it, because it is egregiously wasteful and completely unsustainable.

tuesdayrain 7y ago
Your comment is only true for a subset of cryptocurrencies that use Proof of Work.

rolltiide 7y ago

It doesn't seem like they are doing any of what you said > Next, we will use these tools to evaluate existing, real-world blockchain use cases with an eye towards developing our own applications of these emerging technologies. Along the way, we will learn practical development skills in distributed ledger technologies to understand blockchain programming and application development. Finally, students will propose their own blockchain use cases for CMU's own proprietary blockchain.

shadowgovt 7y ago
Agreed. The course appears to be an exploration of the technology's potential, not an exploration of what it's already been used for or applications that may use the technology but could be solved some other way instead. From a pedagogy perspective, the technology is what is being taught and applications for the technology are being used as teaching tools.