📚 node [[block chain]]
Welcome! Nobody has contributed anything to 'block chain' yet. You can:
  • Write something in the document below!
    • There is at least one public document in every node in the Agora. Whatever you write in it will be integrated and made available for the next visitor to read and edit.
  • Write to the Agora from social media.
    • If you follow Agora bot on a supported platform and include the wikilink [[block chain]] in a post, the Agora will link it here and optionally integrate your writing.
  • Sign up as a full Agora user.
    • As a full user you will be able to contribute your personal notes and resources directly to this knowledge commons. Some setup required :)
⥅ related node [[2017 08 19 blockchain open source definitions]]
⥅ related node [[2018 09 30 blockchain governance 101 vlad]]
⥅ related node [[blockchain]]
⥅ related node [[blockchain chicken farm]]
⥅ related node [[blockchains]]
⥅ related node [[beyond the shouting match what is a blockchain really]]
⥅ related node [[blockchain for the political left]]
⥅ related node [[commons based peer production on the blockchain]]
⥅ related node [[how we can encode human rights in the blockchain]]
⥅ related node [[nathan schneider pt 2 blockchain governance]]
⥅ related node [[the blockchain socialist]]
⥅ related node [[20210719153139 blockchain]]
⥅ related node [[20210719153323 can_a_blockchain_be_used_for_socialism]]
⥅ related node [[blockchain voting with santiago siri]]
⥅ related node [[blockchain research]]
⥅ node [[blockchain]] pulled by Agora

On the other hand I'm pretty sure my other idea about the blockchain must be bullshit. I mean, it has 'blockchain' in it; I would assume dumb or scam the minute I saw it on any random blog, and I'm not sure why I should pretend of myself better standards. So I see it as an exercise in finding out why my intuition is wrong. It could be useful to think about the errors of reasoning I'm prone to.

Blockchain

Blockchain

Lots of hype, tarnished by crypto-libertarianism and environmental impacts of e.g. [[Bitcoin]], but interesting technology nonetheless. [[Distributed ledger]]s of one sort or another could be used for beneficial purposes (see e.g. [[DisCOs]]).

Both blockchain and digital currencies offer a great deal of potential, but Bitcoin itself is a deflationary, capitalist medium that functions primarily as an investment asset to concentrate wealth, and is mostly favored by right-libertarian hard money ideologues.

Center for a Stateless Society » Review: A DisCO Manifesto

However, the really interesting point about Bitcoin is not the currency itself, but rather the fact that its protocol – the blockchain – can be used to implement many other applications which have nothing to do with money.

Ethereum: Freenet or Skynet? - Guerrilla Translation!

Blockchain's one way of implementing [[digital cash]].

Environmental impact

If you understand the difference between [[Proof of Work]] and [[Proof of Stake]], then you should see that PoS blockchains don't have the horrendous problem that PoW do. Sure, they consume some energy, just like any other computing. But not on principle, as with PoW.

The 15 Most Sustainable Cryptocurrencies for 2021 - LeafScore

[[Blockchain for the political left]]

A blockchain is a peer to peer tool that works something like an open ledger. Every participant in a certain network had access to the whole history of every "transaction"- whether it be financial as in the case of Bitcoin, or also general information.

A blockchain runs on a set of nodes, each of which may be under the control of a separate entity or organization. These nodes connect to each other in a dense peer-to-peer network, so that no individual node acts as a central point of control or failure - [https://www.multichain.com/blog/2017/05/blockchain-immutability-myth/ multichain.com]

Uses

Mkinsey recently analysed the state of industry and question:

Are there benefits to be accrued that justify the changes required in [[market infrastructure]] and [[data governance]]? - [https://www.mckinsey.com/industries/financial-services/our-insights/blockchains-occam-problem?cid=other-eml-nsl-mip-mck&hlkid=87d6eb5836364cbf94419c9121e01664&hctky=1273956&hdpid=7222d727-e2da-4c04-9730-b4982cb5b53f mckinsey.com]

To get there we see three key principles as minimum conditions for progress:

  1. [[Start with a problem]]
  2. [[Clear business case]]
  3. [[Path to adoption]]

Transactions

Each node can generate and digitally sign transactions which represent operations in some kind of ledger or database, and these transactions rapidly propagate to other nodes across the network in a gossip-like way.

Each node independently verifies every new incoming transaction for validity, in terms of:

  • (a) its compliance with the blockchain’s rules
  • (b) its digital signature
  • (c) conflicts with previously seen transactions

If a transaction passes these tests, it enters that node’s local list of provisional unconfirmed transactions (the “memory pool”), and will be forwarded on to its peers. Transactions which fail are rejected outright, while others whose evaluation depends on unseen transactions are placed in a temporary holding area (the “orphan pool”).

Blocks

At periodic intervals, a new block is generated by one of the “validator” nodes on the network, containing a set of as-yet unconfirmed transactions.

Every block has a unique 32-byte identifier called a [[hash]], which is determined entirely by the block’s contents. Each block also includes a timestamp and a link to a previous block via its hash, creating a literal “block chain” going back to the very beginning.

Just like transactions, blocks propagate across the network in a peer-to-peer fashion and are independently verified by each node.

To be accepted by a node, a block must contain a set of valid transactions which do not conflict with each other or with those in the previous blocks linked.

If a block passes this and other tests, it is added to that node’s local copy of the blockchain, and the transactions within are “confirmed”. Any transactions in the node’s memory pool or orphan pool which conflict with those in the new block are immediately discarded.

Applications

Blockchain uses-cases - [http://letstalkpayments.com/blockchain-use-cases-comprehensive-analysis-startups-invoved letstalkpayments.com]

Blockchains have many potential appplications, but the most appealing is in security. According to Satoshi Nakamoto's calculations, it is almost impossible to forge a blockchain transaction once the history has passed a certain threshhold of difficulty, because the computer power required to attack the system would have to be more than the combined computer power of every node in the network.

YOUTUBE 19QT8-i1Wf0 Coinscrum (Apr 2014) - The Concept of the [[Blockchain]]

Potential Applications

Blockchains have many potential appplications, but the most appealing is in security. According to Satoshi Nakamoto's calculations, it is almost impossible to forge a blockchain transaction once the history has passed a certain threshhold of difficulty, because the computer power required to attack the system would have to be more than the combined computer power of every node in the network.

Links

A distributed hash table (DHT) is a class of a decentralized distributed system that provides a lookup service similar to a hash table. Any participating node can efficiently retrieve the value associated with a given key. [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Distributed_hash_table wikipedia]

📖 stoas
⥱ context