Recordism: A social-scientific prospect of blockchain from social, legal, financial, and technological perspectives (2204.00823v2)

Abstract: Blockchain technology has the potential to revolutionize the architecture of cyberspace by transforming the way information is stored, circulated, and exchanged in cyberspace through decentralization, transparency, and de-identification. This means that ordinary participants can simultaneously become traders, miners, retailers, and customers, thus breaking down barriers, reducing the information gap between participants in the community, and contributing to the futuristic metaverse with an open, progressive, and equal ideology. The impact of this information transformation empowered by blockchain extends to our understanding of methodology, legal governance in cyberspace, and financial and technological development. This study asks: what are the implications of the blockchain-driven information revolution for society and social sciences? In order to answer this main question, the paper focuses on four key perspectives: methodological, legal, financial, and technical. Through the analysis of these four perspectives, the paper provides a comprehensive understanding of the impact of blockchain on society, the social sciences, and technology, making a contribution to current scholarship. It finds that blockchain is not only an innovative cognition method, but also a community representative, serving as a source of trust, a governance watchdog, an enforcer of cyber laws, and an incubator for future technologies. Despite some challenges in integrating blockchain with existing social structures, this paper concludes that blockchain has the potential to play a significant role in shaping the future.