How blockchain can counter fake news and preserve history

Throughout history, people have tried to leave their mark on the world. Machiavelli’s “The Prince”, written more than 500 years ago, is today a cornerstone of modern political philosophy, and Cervantes’ “Don Quixote”, written in 1605, conveys what chivalry was like in that era. These and other works of literature along with countless art and ancient writings have been carefully passed down through generations for their contribution to humanity.

Preserving human history and its culture comes with more than its fair share of obstacles, but without the ability to preserve the past and learn from it, humans are doomed to repeat past mistakes. So much of our shared history has been lost over time, but the rise of blockchain technology now provides a better way for humanity to preserve documents and artifacts of historical value.

Modern challenges to preserve the past

In the third century BCE in Greek-administered Egypt, the Great Library of Alexandria was established and quickly became part of a research institute known as the Museum, with the largest accumulation of human knowledge in the ancient world. As the library grew, more and more scholars visited and contributed to the collection. With anywhere from 40,000 to 400,000 papyrus rolls, Callimachus, a third-century BCE poet, cataloged the library’s entire inventory.

For centuries the library stood as a symbol of education and knowledge, inspiring other such libraries throughout the Mediterranean region and especially the Roman Empire. Unfortunately, several fires and invasions occurred in the early centuries BCE, leading to the eventual destruction of the once great library.

With the destruction of Alexandria’s library came the loss of all knowledge, and almost nothing remains today of its glorious past. Today, bad actors—armed with more advanced tools than those used to destroy the Great Library of Alexandria—are exploiting the most advanced technology for political or economic gain, and archivists and historians are on the front lines of the war against truth. In this era of disinformation, defending the truth also requires the use of advanced technology to ensure that false documents, forged artworks or deeply fake videos are not recorded in tomorrow’s history books.

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Tokenizing the past

To counter this phenomenon, blockchain technology, due to its immutable nature and proof of ownership, can and should be leveraged to overcome some of the challenges archivists and historians face in preserving the past. Blockchain’s distributed ledger technology enables the secure functioning of a decentralized digital database. This provides enhanced layers of security that eliminate the potential to change or manipulate the database.

How could this be done?

• Documents can be tokenized and digitally preserved through blockchain storage, where files are broken apart in a process known as sharding.

• Documents can then be copied to prevent data loss in the event of an error and encrypted with a private key that controls who has viewing permissions.

• Artifacts of any kind from any era can be tokenized and recorded on the blockchain’s digital ledger in the same way as documents, thus ensuring their authenticity and eliminating the threat of forgeries.

• Fractional tokens of historical artifacts can also be sold with funds raised to support the upkeep of the artifact.

So many innovative technology use cases claim to do good, but by safeguarding the integrity of humanity’s shared past, blockchain actually feels like a technology capable of making the world a better place.

Tokenization of historical documents, and especially artefacts, has very little precedent, but the technology is already available to make it happen – all that is needed is the initiative to make it a reality. Blockchain’s ability to tokenize real-world assets has already opened up access for retail investors to buy fractions of real estate, precious metals, and much more.

Fractionating a luxury apartment or a rare painting is different from tokenizing a historical document, but using blockchain technology both enjoy indisputable ownership. For archivists and historians, undisputed ownership represents an undisputed truth. And in the fight to protect the truth, tokenization offers them a tool that can preserve both documents and objects, while preventing the spread of false information and forgeries.

Over the last few years, we have already seen how dangerous the spread of fake news can be – preventing fake news and forged documents and objects from cementing themselves as true and real is going to be a big challenge. Going forward, historians and archivists will play an irreplaceable role in society, and arming them with the most up-to-date tools is extremely valuable.

Blockchain is the most obvious tool that can be used to maintain and manage content and artifacts of all types, to ensure the integrity of our shared past. Although blockchain alone cannot completely remove the threats that distort historical events, facts and artifacts, it provides a real solution to reduce the amount of threats.

After all, Indiana Jones taught us that protecting the integrity of historical artifacts is no easy task, but perhaps blockchain can make it a little easier.