Homework on Consensus - Questions
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What does it mean when we say that in blockchain, consensus determine the truth?
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How is this different from how truth is determined in a central database?
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you do not mention anything about information silos in the videos up untill now. It seems like the questions have been copied from the course “deep fundamentals”, but the videos havent been adjusted accordingly (or the questions hasnt been changed according to the new video material?)
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- What does it mean when we say that in blockchain, consensus determine the truth?
team work between nodes collaboratively to reaffirm a transaction allowing different parties to behave in a trustiness manner - How is this different from how truth is determined in a central database?
its trust-less and decentralised, no authority over site whilst a database is centralised and an authority can intervene
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Consensus is the agreement of the net work on state changes based on most recent transactions. If the network agrees a transaction is good it gets added to the ledger and if the network finds it to be false it gets discarded.
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In a central database a single copy database copy or single individual chose what is truth. If the database is corrupted then truth is altered.
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1- it means that the truth is decided and agreed on collectively by the people.
2- in a central database there’s a central authority that decides the truth. In another words someone has control over the network and only him decides the truth. therefore he can manipulate it or change it however he likes.
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1)it means that the truth is decided and agreed on collectively by the people
2)in a central database there’s a central authority that decides the truth
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I noticed that too and with this new class there are no questions that I can open on my laptop. It’s just the link that I have to copy and paste to type my answers in the forum.
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- Consensus determines the truth because of economic incentives.
- In a central database there is an authority and he/she might not be truthful and can alter the database.
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Because the vast majority of the network wants to play by the rules, and any transaction that has a wrong motive and tries to cheat the system will be rejected by the other participants, Participants in blockchain transactions (i.e. miners with proof-of-work) are incentivized to “tell the truth” and bring a correct transaction to the blockchain, because by doing so they will make money, and most people want to make money, and if they don’t play by the rules they won’t, and they will even lose money (for instance electricity costs with proof-of-work).
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In a central database, truth would be determined by a central authority, by the top, although in blockchain it is determined by consensus, where the different nodes of the network need to agree whether a transaction is valid or not.
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- The consensus decide which blockchain will continue to be used to add blocks on it.
- In a central database the owner makes the truth
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Hi there,
I like your pics, how do you create it? What software do you use?
By the way nice job and thanks for sharing this is useful
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I find it personally useful. I can immediately recall and retrieve topics, links, and details from across the entire class. But I built the sphere per the geometry my brain devised. So I’ll admit its utility to others may be lost in a fog of bewilderment. World-wide this is just about the most epic Thort sphere in existence. Thort developers use it as a stress test (along with another sphere I’m building of the entire verse-wise book of Psalms).
I do fully intend to hold local seminars on “intro to BitCoin/Blockchain” and use the sphere in presentation mode gliding through a pre-built Journey of way points instead of death by a PowerPoint stack of slides. I already built that journey over the sphere at the end of the last class, but updating the sphere beneath them has invalidated all the way points. They’re still embedded in the file but they make no sense now. I’ll need to adjust them when I’ve finished nudging everything around.
Here’s the link to my course sphere, work-in-progress, as above. But by the time anybody reads to the bottom of this it may be completed. 
https://thort.space/168237003/invite_code/3_J0a-nIdaviVmyzp00ote
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Thanks for your detailed answer and your sharing. Here is a treasure I’ve just found by chance when I had to wait 12 hours at Warsaw airport: Bitcoin Bible
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What does it mean when we say that in blockchain, consensus determine the truth?
The blockchain does not simply allow one version of truth to be added to a single block on a single node it verifies the truth through all blocks and all nodes reaching consensus.
How is this different from how truth is determined in a central database?
A central database can have information amended or omitted by a single or group of actors within a central authority and trust is required to accept the authenticity and accuracy from who provides authority and those authorized with limited or no external verification by other centralized independent regulative bodies. All are corruptible.
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Hello Cathy,
The all the newer courses have been using this forum rather then downloadable PDF. They are trying to foster a learning environment I believe rather then just self study. Hope your enjoying the new course.
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What does it mean when we say that in blockchain, consensus determine the truth?
It means that the consensus mechanism makes sure that new added transactions are legitimate and are following the rules of the network. -
How is this different from how truth is determined in a central database?
A central database is centralised so the truth of the database is in the hands of the entity that owns the data. That entity itself or owner can manage, edit, delete, add, manipulate the data amongst other things.
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Consensus:
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Consensus determines the truth on the blockchain by members of the network verifying a transaction. This creates trust that the transaction has taken place. Having consensus in the network makes it difficult to cheat the system, for example, in a supply chain where other members of that supply chain can verify the accuracy or authenticity of a claim made on that chain. This creates a trustless network where the TRUTH of all the many transaction on that blockchain can be established.
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On a central database the truth can be much harder to determine. It could be said that the larger the network the more difficult it is to find the TRUTH. Also the more independent the players on the network are from each other.
A money transfer in a bank may go through a number of intermediaries that are between the sender and the receiver. However in banking systems the relationships between these intermediaries can work very effectively because there is trust in the system that the transaction will be completed as specified because it is just one of many that day, in an established chain.
On the otherhand if you are a supermarket with many thousands of different lines and products within those lines how do you get assurances that the food you sell in your shop meets the agreed standards. Or that the clothing that you sell hasn’t been made by child labour or in some sweat shop.
The costly way is to have a high degree of inspections through out the supply chains. This of course is not reasonable so you rely on the records of others. A central database such as this cannot supply the truth but merely aspire or hope that all actors work in good faith. This allows multiple areas of weakness in the system that cannot often be verified to a level that confirms the truth in a way that a decentralised system can.
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