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I'm sure you know this, but NP-hardness results only matter for worst-case instances. Even if Bitcoin's algorithm is roughly close to optimal on real-world ins
by Ar-Curunir 10y ago
I'm sure you know this, but NP-hardness results only matter for worst-case instances. Even if Bitcoin's algorithm is roughly close to optimal on real-world instances, it doesn't mean somebody won't be able to generate a series of transactions that cause the algorithm to exhibit worst-case behaviour.
Also, the NP-hardness results would apply even if the Bitcoin algorithm is updated.
- replies_to_all 10y agoNullc is CTO of a company trying to take control over Bitcoin development by pushing an update they call "SegWitness". Nullc's gamble is that if they can get their code into Bitcoin their company, Blockstream, will be able to sell their "expertise". Honestly, at this point, they are just a marketing company with a single product they are desperate to push at any cost. If nullc does not seem to "understand" something, that is often why, he has incentive to see the system fail to upgrade on its own, selling their segwitness as the "solution" to a non-existent problem. Granted, it is hard to see IPO like profits working on an "open-source" project.
- indolering 10y agoCan we please leave the cryptocurrency drama out of this? Every time a cryptocurrency post is submitted to HN the discussions get overtaken by political bickering.
- null0pointer 10y agoI'd love for there to be pure technical discussion however the development of most of the major cryptos boil down to political bickering at this point. What a sorry state of affairs :(
- indolering 10y agoThere is nothing technical about that comment, s/he doesn't even preface it with a discussion as to what SegWit has to do with this post.
- nullc 10y agoThe more pseudonymous shill hate-posts that get made the faster the jerks funding people to attack like this run out of funds. I celebrate everyone one of them. (If anyone with an identity and reputation thinks the grandparent posters comment has any merit at all, I'd be happy to talk it through with you and I'm confident that you'll be satisfied that they're talking nonsense. --- the harassing posts stalking me all over the internet is more then a little tiring)
- sanswork 10y agoSadly I don't think there is any risk of them running out of money anytime soon.
- just_one_time_ 10y agoIts not bickering, user nullc is actively trying to take over an open source project with his private VC backed company. This should be interesting and important for the HN community.
- midmagico 10y agoYou're using too many commas.
- sanswork 10y agoSurely nullc's company could sell their expertise even without segwit getting pushed given the number of core developers on their payroll?
- nullc 10y agoOh sure, I wasn't intending to comment on the NP-hardness but only on the accuracy of the approximation in practice. There is a lovely paper disproving the all-public-information efficient market hypothesis, assuming computationally bound actors by showing how to embed market inefficiency into a set of trades that can only be removed by solving a NP-hard problem. :)