Who is making block chains?

[Feathercoiner]

Ok that sounds newbie and I have traded btcs on mtgox since they were under 4.00 but for the life of me I don't understand who/ what group invents these block chains? Please don't say an anonymous group. Someone must know. They get assigned. What is being computed?

People say its open source, but can you decipher what is in it? Is it like folding?

[naphto]

Miners?

[pintoo]

http://www.bitcoinmining.com

[redemptor]

Miners?

which are a mysterious network of altruistic individuals who try to do good,but not to do too good(they don't want to win by getting more than 51%,then game will be over). They are kind of like a weeknight handicap bowling league.

[DannyHamilton]

Your userID says "Feathercoiner", so I'm not sure if you are asking about Bitcoin, or Feathercoin.

Anyone with a bit of technical knowledge can create their own alternate cryptocoin and start their own blockchain.  The tricky part is convincing others that they should invest time, effort, and money into using your alternate coin.  The person (or group) known as "Satoshi Nakamoto" started the Bitcoin blockchain.  I don't know who started litecoin or feathercoin.  There are several other alternate blockchains as well.

As for what is being computed, in bitcoin the proof-of-work involves computing a SHA-256 hash repeatedly while slightly changing the data being hashed on each itieration until a result less than a specific target is found.

Yes, you can definitely decipher what is in it.  It is only like "folding" in that work is being distributed among a large group of peers.  Beyond that it doesn't have much in common at all.