As I understand it, blockchain is only a solution if your problem is of the shape: I need to record statements, but I cannot/do not want to trust a central authority to not tamper with those statements.
So bitcoin solves the problem of not wanting governments being able to print extra money. The sibling comment [1] about timestamping the date of birth of veal is not a good use case, because it's perfectly possible and easier to set up a central authority that the veterinarian can report to. Which, according to a response [2], is exactly what happened, and solves the problem of timestamping veal just fine.
So bitcoin solves the problem of not wanting governments being able to print extra money. The sibling comment [1] about timestamping the date of birth of veal is not a good use case, because it's perfectly possible and easier to set up a central authority that the veterinarian can report to. Which, according to a response [2], is exactly what happened, and solves the problem of timestamping veal just fine.
[1] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=19226935
[2] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=19226997