Homework on Consensus - Questions

Blockchain and Bitcoin 101
#4822
  1. What does it mean when we say that in blockchain, consensus determines the truth?

It means that the truth is determined by agreement of the group, rather than an individual entity.

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

In a central database an individual entity has complete control of what is determined to be true.

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#4823

  1. What does it mean when we say that in blockchain, consensus determine the truth?
    All parties involved must agree with the transaction. There’s a financial gain for the parties involved for their honesty.

  2. How is this different from how truth is determined in a central database?
    With centralization, there may be only one party in the decision making process. Truth lies in the hand of that one person or party.

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#4824

  1. What does it mean when we say that in blockchain, consensus determine the truth?
    Truth are collectively agreed upon by the network because of economic consensus

  2. How is this different from how truth is determined in a central database?
    The central authority might not be truthful and may alter the database

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#4825

  1. What does it mean when we say that in blockchain, consensus determine the truth?
    Consensus removes trust. Decisions are made on the network to determine true vs false data. Decentralization to build a trustless network

  2. How is this different from how truth is determined in a central database?
    Consensus is built on financial incentives to ensure that everyone plays by the rules

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#4826

  1. All nodes in the network have to agree that the ledger is correct, then the transaction can go through. The players are incentivized to tell the truth or they are essentially kicked off the network (the team).

  2. In central databases there is one authority and that authority has to be trusted. It can manipulate the database and corrupt the information. It’s the central authority that gets to tell the narrative.

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#4827

When all parties at all level of a network are able to see and verify particular transactions then the truth cannot be hidden or disputed.

This is different than in a central database because most levels of the network are obscured from view so each party has to trust the word of every other party involved, which frequently does not go well.

Consensus incentivizes the parties to act in integrity because if they don’t they will lose money and business.

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#4828

  1. This means that if all the nodes agree on a transaction, the transaction is allowed to go through. The nodes have determined that the transaction is not dishonest and the proper amount of funds being sent actually exist.

  2. This is different because there is nobody or service to check the truth in a centralized database. It relies on trust in the entity that governs the database which they can alter at will.

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#4829

  1. Consensus is basically the act of creating a trustless system. When the blockchain is in consensus it has been verified by more than one party and as such it is reporting the truth. The opposite of centralize audit.

  2. In a central database inputs/outputs are not verified by all stakeholders and as such it can be cheated.

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#4830

  1. The network has at every step a real time verification, data is there and can be contrast giving away any misleading data.

  2. The central database has a high percentage that can be verified but the rest is done by trusting, meaning that the door is open for misleading changes.

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#4831

  1. When we say consensus determines the truth, we are saying that the truth is being decided by the people running the network collectively, who happen to be incentivized to “tell the truth” by the rewards given.

  2. Central databases have a singular admin (or few admins) who get to chose what the truth is.

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#4832

  1. What does it mean when we say that in blockchain, consensus determines the truth?
    additions to the blockchain have to be verified via consensus before they can be added or deemed ‘true’

  2. How is this different from how truth is determined in a central database?
    additions to a central database can be made by an admin or any party with sufficient access priveleges - trust is required

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#4833

Homework on Consensus - Questions

  1. What does it mean when we say that in blockchain, consensus determine the truth?
    Because in blockchain consensus is achieved only through several participants (nodes) in the network. This means that more than one entity has to agree about the new transaction so if everyone in the network agrees about this new transaction than that means that it was double checked, it was verified, it is true, so they have reached consensus which is the truth.

  2. How is this different from how truth is determined in a central database?
    Central database can be owned only by one entity and you cannot verify if this truth is really the truth. The data can be easily manipulated. This is not a trustless network.

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#4834

My answer: In a central database, a transaction is verified by centralized entity.

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#4835

1 What does it mean when we say that in blockchain, consensus determines the truth?
Consensus determines the truth in blockchain by creating a mutual agreement amongst the entirety of the network within the blockchain with the incentive that the data provided is accurate which in return creates a trustless environment.

2.How is this different from how truth is determined in a central database?
This is different from how the truth is determined in a central database because the truth about the data within the network is agreed to be accurate by entire network not one singular entity such as an admin

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#4836
  1. we say consensus determines the truth because there is a network of nodes validating every transaction to make sure they are legit before it can come onto the blockchain. So in that case you remove the need for a middle man as long as the nodes are running and validators are validating.
  2. When it comes to the central database looking at transactions or supply chain or provenance you just have to trust peoples word and you may not even know the person or the company directly, for example, if you are buying grass-fed chicken from china you just have to trust them that they are producing grass-fed chickens or send someone out to the farm and that’s just to much headache so that’s why I don’t think we buy chicken from china.
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#4837

  1. Consensus forces all to remind truthful; all networks are in communication, and must collectively verify integrity

  2. Centralized databases have a monarch, who can simply claim whatever they want with no one proof checking them

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#4838

  1. Consensus uses decentralization where all decisions are being double checked by several parties coming to an agreement.

  2. Consensus confirms validation on the supply network to verify the data is correct. It is completely trustless

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#4839
  1. What does it mean when we say that in blockchain, consensus determine the truth?
    That the network has confirmed that a specific set of parameters have been met for example a confirmed transaction on the ethereum network or a supply chain being able to verify ingredients origin from data on the blockchain
  2. How is this different from how truth is determined in a central database?
    In traditional database the verification process can be or is relied upon by third parties or several outside entities or networks that could be misleading or false
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#4840
  1. What does it mean when we say that in blockchain, consensus determines the truth?

Through incentivized consensus, we determine truth because a majority of the nodes in a blockchain must agree that a particular transaction looking to be added to the blockchain is legitimate, and these nodes (miners in POW or stakers in POS) are incentivized to find and add only the legitimate transactions for each block.

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

In a central database consensus does not exist since the database exists in only one location, instead of being copied and agreed on by numerous parties in a distributed system. This means that in a centralized database if an attacker is able to write to and manipulate the data it contains, it can go undetected whereas in a distributed blockchain if one node’s copy of the blockchain is manipulated it can be voted out by the majority of other nodes and thus have no impact.

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#4841
  1. What does it mean when we say that in blockchain, consensus determine the truth?
  2. How is this different from how truth is determined in a central database?

Consensus determines the truth by the various computers on that network reaching agreement on transactions. If the network finds the transaction to be true (i.e. someone has enough money to pay for a transaction) it is accepted, goes through, and gets recorded on the public ledger (the blockchain). It also implies that actions cannot be approved by a singular source. On-chain actions require consensus from the network.

Truth on a central database is determined by a central authority (or can be a single authority) that something is true. This can lead to false or partial information being shared due to the power a central authority has to edit or omit information.

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