Homework on Consensus - Questions

Blockchain and Bitcoin 101
#462

  1. Truth on the blockchain is verified by many entities that conclude the same results as each other. There are many points of truth to equal a consensus. Once consensus has finished, the truth of transaction cannot be undone.

  2. There is only one single point of truth to trust with no real way to validate. Truth has a higher risk of becoming flimsy and elastic. The central database could decide to change truth to their favor and push it out to the world that has no way to validate. i.e. History books.

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#463
    1. What does it mean when we say that in blockchain, consensus determine the truth?
      all the nodes check the ledger and agree if the transaction is true or not. all must agree before the transaction can be added to the blockchain. a decentralised trustless society.

  2. How is this different from how truth is determined in a central database?
    a central database can be verified by one person so it is not trustless, it can be modified by one person. on a decentralised network you know the decision is being made by several parties and at all times all decisions are being double checked so it is a trustless network, no human error, mathematics

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#464
  1. Consensus determines the truth because all participants are incentivized to act correctly.
  2. A truth in a central database can be manipulated by the owner of such database, therefore is it nos reached by consensus
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#465
  1. what does it mean when we say that in blockchain, consensus determines the truth?
    in blockchain, a network of computers use math problems to verify if a transaction is valid. if added to the blockchain, consensus says it is true, making it trustworthy.
    2.how is it different from how truth is determined in a central database?
    the central database information is added by a single source and most likely incomplete because of silo’s of info. you must trust the source. unverifiable and not trustworthy.
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#466

1- All transactions or contracts on blockchain must be 100% verified.

2- The transaction or contract is only verified by entity who controls the data base.

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#467
  1. The network is incentivized to tell the truth
  2. In a central database, the truth comes from one source. On the blockchain it comes by consensus from many different sources / databases on many computer databases
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#468

  1. What does it mean when we say that in blockchain, consensus determine the truth?
    That means when network of decentralized computers verify the same transaction to be true (valid). That same transaction makes sense using provenance from supply chain through network to final product as we have no trust- but verify system that reaches consensus of all in chain. It is validated and everyone obtained incentive playing by the rules and earned money. All decisions were double checked. With consensus we are moving the trust and reach global consensus. In that chain is difficult to cheat.

  2. How is this different from how truth is determined in a central database?
    The central databases are not open sources for everybody else and we can not check their history or provenance (what can be moved or removed). Trust is a relative term which is not based on checking all databases in chain of supply to the final product.

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#469

  1. What does it mean when we say that in blockchain, consensus determine the truth?
    Consensus is based on parties verifying the same information which is incentivized monetarily. This aspect makes blockchain a trust-less truth generating machine.

  2. How is this different from how truth is determined in a central database?
    In a centralized database truth is determined by what the controlling interest states it is. The system is based on trust, not verification of the truth.

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#470
  1. What does it mean when we say that in blockchain, consensus determine the truth? Consensus determines the truth through verification on the entire global network incentivized financially.
  2. How is this different from how truth is determined in a central database?
    The difference is that a central database relies solely on trust there is no verification of information.
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#471

  1. Consensus is the agregate versions of truth between the players in a network. If 9 players say x=1, and 1 says x=2, then we can determine the truth.

  2. The “truth” of a central database is determined by a single actor or institution, with whichever hiddem agenda behind that version of “truth”.

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#472

  1. In blockchain, everyone must verify every transaction, or else it will not appear in the ledger. That way, the general consensus of all the validators helps to determine the truth.

  2. In a central database, the central authority says what is true and what is not true, and everyone using the database has to believe whatever the authority says is the truth, whether or not it can be independently verified.

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#473

1- consensus is about how the blockchain functions to validate blocks and will record once it has verified the data. The way it functions proves to be transparent, unaltered and therefore truthful.
2- in centralized systems there is room for human error or intentional manipulation as data is not produced in same ways as the blockchain.

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#474

Consensus in blockchain means that everyone has to agree what is added to make a trustless product . Decentralized information from many parties instead of one governing body need to be confirmed .
Inscentive equals consensus as the insentive is to market the best trustworthy product to make wealth .
On a central database information is not of public opinion and centralized and has many trust issues and can be lost , tampered with etc

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#475

  1. What does it mean when we say that in blockchain, consensus determine the truth?
    All participants within the blockchain are incentivized to tell the truth, to only verify what they know from historic data. Consensus means that all parties (nodes) in the network have come to a universal agreement about a certain transaction which they hold as being verified. Provenance cannot live without consensus.

  2. How is this different from how truth is determined in a central database?
    In a central database, essentially the party which control the only available database can verify transactions. Meaning they have a monopoly essentially which is bad for other parties because they have no say there is no consensus. The central database has to be trusted in order for the system to work.

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#476

  1. What does it mean when we say that in blockchain, consensus determine the truth? … Due to the fact that Consensus is derived from all available information from the various computers on the blockchain to valid a transaction (or general information), this is considered the truth. This is what is meant my saying, “Consensus determine the truth”.

  2. How is this different from how truth is determined in a central database? … It is different from how truth is determined in a central database because it is open, validated and ‘trustless’. In central databases, it is unclear how (if ever) truth is determined. It is all based on ‘trust’ which is not the best method to pursue ‘truth’.

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#477
  1. Means that several computers on the network need to double check and come to an agreement what information is added into the blockchain. By running the information with the network it becomes a mathematical truth. The computers also have incentive to tell the truth.
  2. In a central database someone always has the possibility or authority to intervene with the information added.
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#478
  1. What does it mean when we say that in blockchain, consensus determine the truth?

It means that the majority decides what transactions are good vs bad, and itd take a 51% attack to approve bad txs.
2. How is this different from how truth is determined in a central database?
In a central database, the central authority can become corrupted, making it a point of failure and creating weakness vs a decentralized system.

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#479

What does it mean when we say that in blockchain, consensus determine the truth?

Consensus his achieved in blockchain by a network of computers making an agreement about a transaction or in the case of a supply chain, a supply network can verify that something in the chain has or has not taken place. everyone can have confidence that each party is telling the truth, not based off of trust but verification through the network.

How is this different from how truth is determined in a central database?

Consensus is achieved through a network that can verify and agree on a particular change or update of a database in which each network entity has. In a centralized database, we are relying on trust. there are no agreements nor verification because there is no shared network. We trust that what is entered or deleted from the database is correct or true.

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#480
  1. When we say, in blockchain, that consensus determines the truth, we mean that there must be an agreement from all the parties in the network to allow a transaction to be true/correct. All the parties in the network can check the same open ledger and determine whether something is true or false and come to an agreement. This consensus is reached by verifying, versus blindly trusting that something is the truth. Consensus works because there is some kind of incentive for being honest (earn money for example).
  2. In a central database truth is determined by trust. When you centralize decision making it can more easily lead to dishonesty. Without having decentralized network consensus the truth is more easily manipulated. If there is no decentralized ledger information/transactions may be changed.
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#481

  • What does it mean when we say that in blockchain, consensus determine the truth?
    All computers in the network have the whole blockchain downloaded with the pre determent rules oft that transaction and when they agrees to if it and all is okay they allow it to go thru.

  • How is this different from how truth is determined in a central database?
    All computers connected in a blockchain network uses a mathematics calculation and the guys that mine or uphold consensus has incentive to that because they get a reward for it like all merchants and producers everybody makes money.

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