How does any currency have value? How can even a stone or a piece of paper have worth? What are three ways people use digital money in everyday life that are mentioned in the TED Talk? Have you seen people use digital money in these ways in your community? What other forms of digital money use have you seen?
What happens when monetary institutions, like banks, are in charge of the money supply?
According to the speaker, what are two ways to describe the future of money?
Describe what cryptocurrency is and how it relates to the field of cryptography.
What are the people who run Bitcoin software called? How do they earn Bitcoin?
The speaker gives two examples of how programmable money could change the way we value items: renting healthcare data to a pharmaceutical company, and paying directly for the shows we watch instead of having to deal with ads and extra content we aren’t interested in. What do you think of this change to society? Are the gains worth the risks?
The speaker concludes by stating that all new technology comes with trade-offs, such as the internet giving us lots of opportunities to waste time as well as increase productivity. Give an example of a new technology you have watched develop and explain how it has benefited you, as well as what its drawbacks are.