“The Blockchain”
This work takes select concepts from the idea of a blockchain and is in part intended to illustrate the significance of some less celebrated properties of blockchains.
40 snapshots are posted, each one of the them a “block” in the “chain”. Every new snapshot after the first contains the checksum value (hash) of every previous snapshot, thereby providing the “chain” of “blocks”.
The “supply” rate of this “blockchain” is one new block per day, to match one completed day/night of the fast.
Proof Of Work
The visual snapshot of the bodily progress of the fast, and the written piece that accompany it, provide the “proof of work” for the snapshot part of the piece. A blockchain typically awards a block once a miner proves they have completed some work that somebody else has not.
Serially Timestamped
Like a blockchain, every block is “time stamped”. In the photo snapshot, I am holding a card with the number of the latest Bitcoin block, the last 8 digits of its hash value, and the numbered days/nights completed. This proves that the photo was taken after a certain date. The Polaroid proves that I am a human and the photo is not altered.
Immutable
The daily photo, written piece, and hashfile are 7-zipped and uploaded to IPFS. Things uploaded to IPFS cannot be deleted. The checksum hash and the IPFS hash/link are distributed at the same time.
Distributed
On my Twitter thread, I have posted the SHA256 checksum of the snapshot file, the IPFS hash of the file, and a link to the IPFS download file for every day of the fast. Because tweets cannot be edited, only deleted, this also provides further proof that the files were posted at a certain time. The thread of the tweets provides a mirror of the “blockchain” in real time, distributing it.
Encrypted
Every snapshot file is password-protected. The passwords will be revealed as part of the publishing of the full work in 喜928 on July 16.
Permanent
The work explores themes of human identity, digital representation, and permanent storage of human expression on the network. Once the fast is complete, the snapshots and additional content in the full work to be stored permanently on Superchain. Once the work is committed, it will be found on public blockchains with its ownership token and, eventually, its full content.