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Similar work is going on in the Ethereum space, both with microtransactions and more generalized state channels for arbitrary computation and data distribution

Similar work is going on in the Ethereum space, both with microtransactions and more generalized state channels for arbitrary computation and data distribution (see Raiden/Truebit/Swarm). But the problem remains the same: finding protocols that have the right (or even adjustable) centralisation/efficiency/privacy/risk/cost tradeoff. Another question is whether these systems will become purely financially incentivised or implement some form of social routing. While the trust conferred to the intermediaries can be quite low, some cooperation is still necessary and even in an initially free market, economies of scale could result in some actors having control over the entire system. Routing still requires consensus, but this time it's local.

nullc 10y ago
Whats the challenge for ethereum? If the smart contracts don't work out like you hoped, you just get the people running it to adjust the ledger for you. (Or do they only do that when they personally lose out?)
- 7373737373 10y ago
  The DAO debacle showed that regardless of the system - even Blockchains - there is no cloud, there are only other people's computers. All systems are inherently influenced by the people behind it, even if they try to ignore or abstract that fact away. There is no perfect neutrality, in fact, Blockchains with economic consensus (PoW/PoS) set a price for it. In addition to what I described above, there are more open questions, ranging from the best network topology to the different patterns of interactions and how they can be optimized. I'm becoming convinced that the best approach would not only allow for one paradigm, but for a range of protocols with different properties (e.g. that work in offline environments) - logical decentralisation. Any kind of maximalism for a single currency and network instance isn't applicable to this.
- deleted 10y ago
  [deleted]

nullc 10y ago

Whats the challenge for ethereum? If the smart contracts don't work out like you hoped, you just get the people running it to adjust the ledger for you. (Or do they only do that when they personally lose out?)

7373737373 10y ago
The DAO debacle showed that regardless of the system - even Blockchains - there is no cloud, there are only other people's computers. All systems are inherently influenced by the people behind it, even if they try to ignore or abstract that fact away. There is no perfect neutrality, in fact, Blockchains with economic consensus (PoW/PoS) set a price for it. In addition to what I described above, there are more open questions, ranging from the best network topology to the different patterns of interactions and how they can be optimized. I'm becoming convinced that the best approach would not only allow for one paradigm, but for a range of protocols with different properties (e.g. that work in offline environments) - logical decentralisation. Any kind of maximalism for a single currency and network instance isn't applicable to this.
deleted 10y ago
[deleted]