Bitcoin
The talk, presented by the YouTuber 3Blue1Brown, is an informative presentation regarding bitcoin, the biggest cryptocurrency on the market.
Basics of Bitcoin
The complete idea behind bitcoin is complex but for a general understanding, bitcoin stores an online ledger containing transactions between different parties. All users have a local ledger that updates with the transactions made by other ledgers. The ledgers broadcast their transactions which, after verification, are recorded by other ledgers. These ledgers, after a series of transactions with a proof of work at the end, are referred to as blocks. Blocks are then attached to form a blockchain. Users trust in blockchains with the most blocks as more miners are working on it. Miners are individuals who keep inputting a sequence of numbers into a function to generate a 256-bit sequence. They are rewarded when they get an input that generates a number associated with a “proof of work”.
Analysis of Presentation
The presentation had excellent structuring; this is especially evident considering the amount of information a viewer such as myself could retain. It began with breaking down the idea of bitcoin into subheadings (ex. proof of work) and then explained each of the topics with everyday examples, creating a connection with the audience. The omission of these examples would make the topic difficult to grasp due to the complexity of the terminology used. The content is relevant as I gained insight into cryptocurrencies, with the possibility of investing in them in the future. The general audience would be able to draw a similar conclusion, as the presentation gave enough of an overview to dive deeper into the technical skills needed to invest in bitcoin. The use of visuals mostly enhanced the simplicity of the talk as it made complicated topics like cryptography digestible for the audience.
Areas of improvement
The talk is overall well presented, but occasionally the visuals became a bit overwhelming, distracting the viewer. The remedy for this is to remove a few of the overlapping visuals. This connects to what we learned about slides containing distracting visuals and steering clear of using too many visuals. The presentation also contained an excess of information for the casual viewer, which is evident when specific terminology is used. An example of such terminology are words like “binary” and “256-bit sequences”, which can be hard to understand for the average viewer. The final note of criticism is that the presenter is sometimes monotone, and considering the complexity of some topics discussed, this made it easy for the viewer to lose focus. This meant subsequent topics were hard to understand as well, detracting from the overall experience.
Overall, the talk is very informative and is made with the average viewer in mind. It serves as a great introduction to the world of bitcoin.
