What?
Yeah, work with me a sec. I was explaining blockchain to a friend last night and went off on an analogy tangent that (I hope) helped explain it a bit.
Now, don't get too critical if you're an expert. This is not meant to fully explain all things chain, but could perhaps be a way for one to understand decentralization if s/he has a green thumb.
Let me attach this great synopsis of blockchain from experts, first. This was posted by Mark Suster of Upfront Ventures (https://upfront.com/).
That aside, what I said was in response to, "So are there multiple blockchains or just one?"
I said, "Think of it like rhizomes. You may not be much of a gardener but I imagine you've experienced weeds before, many are on rhizomes, or interconnected roots that lie just beneath the soil and often seem to go on forever."
Continuing, "Unlike a tree, with roots extending from a central plant, rhizomes have no set leader and share resources among a decentralized system."
I forgot to say this, but the largest organism in the world is actually one individual Aspen tree in the Rockies, with its own name, called Pando (latin for "I spread") and is 106 acres in size...kind of neat
"So while multiple weed species can exist in an area, each rhizome is for a particular system. That means one computer can be part of multiple chains (Ethereum and Ripple), but they don't overlap."
A friend of mine is on the team for Shipchain.io (https://shipchain.io/), disrupting the global shipping industry by finally creating a concise tracking ledger. A container leaving Denmark for Tokyo is tracked on a uniform system that participants can all see. Information regarding the status of Bitconnect, for instance, while also "on a blockchain", has no bearing on this industry. AKA each plant (industry), has its own system.
Now if you're an expert (I'm aspiring and always learning), you may find holes in this logic, but I wanted to give a quick overview of it.
Do you think it can help inform a basic understanding of the concept? Why or why not?
Thanks!
P.S. I am biased toward this analogy, as the founder of Rhiz (https://twitter.com/rhizmarket). Our approach is to create a platform, not a pipeline, where consumers and businesses can trust that their connections are safe and secure, in as simple and decentralized a way as possible.