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> I have a totally uninformed, "stab-in-the-dark" question: aren't blockchain-based technologies a way to get consensus [...]? Yes, totally uninformed. Blockch
by dozzie 9y ago
> I have a totally uninformed, "stab-in-the-dark" question: aren't blockchain-based technologies a way to get consensus [...]?
Yes, totally uninformed. Blockchain is not for establishing consensus, but for
timestamping documents.
- tareqak 9y agohttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Byzantine_fault_tolerance#In_practice https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Byzantine_fault_tolerance#In_p... > One example of BFT in use is bitcoin, a peer-to-peer digital currency system. The bitcoin network works in parallel to generate a chain of Hashcash style proof-of-work. The proof-of-work chain is the key to overcome Byzantine failures and to reach a coherent global view of the system state.
- dozzie 9y agoWell, no, not quite. It's nowhere near "coherent", as in "all people at a designated time have exactly the same view of the global state", as this is what Byzantine generals problem requires. What people in Bitcoin can tell is which one of the two transactions that share at least one account is earlier. Bitcoin doesn't solve Byzantine generals problem, it avoids it.