The Future of Finance: Blockchain and its Philosophy

Mr. Francesco M. De Collibus (University of Zurich; Sunrise)

 

Date:28^th November 2017 (Tuesday)

Time: 2.00pm - 4.00pm

Venue:  Business Center (Crescent Building)

 

Innovations are often born haphazardly, from the fortunate match of random circumstances and careful observations. In cases all but common innovation is nothing more than the expected return on investment of a planned research and development expenditure from the budget of a multinational enterprise. This is not what happened with Bitcoin and Blockchain, which were inspired by and meant to fulfill a precise set of doctrines and theories in philosophy of technology and political philosophy. This seminar will critically examine the ideological and philosophical foundations that have inspired all the cryptocurrencies. Since we are well aware of the way Blockchain is redefining finance, what kind of philosophical conclusions can we infer from the success of this technology, and the way it is redefining our classical notion of “value”? We will trace a brief history of the innovative ideas that have brought to us this technological breakthrough.

 

Francesco M. De Collibus is Digital Architect at Sunrise Communications AG. He holds both a MA in Philosophy and a MSc in Computer Science from the State University of Milan, and is currently a PhD candidate at the University of Zürich. He is the author (with Raffaele Mauro) of the book “Hacking Finance: la rivoluzione del Bitcoin e della Blockchain” (Agenzia X, Milan).