[aiCeivi9]

> they could provide consumers (and authorities) a way to trace their products back to their origins, a capability that already would have saved several lives.

Why would blockchain be required for that? In case of drugs and food there recalls are being done using batch number of day of production.

[__MatrixMan__]

Suppose somebody named Mary wants to sell you a vape cartridge which has a serial number, and they also give your a website which accepts the serial number and tells you:

> Joe runs the factory and gave this cartridge to Bob. Bob have it to Mary.

The assumption is that if you buy it then the site will then say:

> And Mary gave it to aiCeivi9

What reason do you have to believe that the website contents are accurate or that people accepting vape cartridges from Joe Bob and Mary are still alive?

In the blockchain case, you can see that Joe Bob and Mary have sold thousands of these and that very few of the transactions are in dispute over authenticity. Also, rather than trusting some faceless 4.6 star rating you can see which of the people that supplied the rating are ones that you know, and which of those are ones that you trust. You can also see if you trust people who trust Joe Bob and Mary. This let's you make a more informed decision about the quality of the thing you're buying.