Homework on Consensus - Questions

Blockchain and Bitcoin 101
#5668
  1. What does it mean when we say that in blockchain, consensus determines the truth?
  2. How is this different from how truth is determined in a central database?

*Consensus on the blockchain means there is agreement amongst the network with transactions.
If the network validates transaction it gets added to the ledger, if not it gets discarded. Consensus prevents fraudulent transactions by incentivizing the network to tell the truth.

  • This is different from a normal centralized database because the database can be manipulated thus corrupting it and making it difficult to audit for validity.
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#5669

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

Consensus determines the truth using financial incentives, all nodes verify each transaction across the network.

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

In a centralised database someone might not be truthful and can alter the database, therefore the information given has to be trusted.

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#5670

It is determined by all the computers reaching agreement that the information is correct to add to the blockchain
2. It differs from central database because it requires several separate and independent entities to make. It work

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#5671
  1. When information is submitted to the blockchain, it is necessary for the distributed operators of the blockchain to evaluate and agree on the information before it is permanently incorporated into the blockchain.
  2. Traditional centralized databases have been designed to be managed by a limited amount of users without the need for any consensus mechanism across different parties. Thus, the main disadvantage is
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#5672

In blockchain consensus is like a perfect democracy, the belives and the truth of the majority works as the belive and the truth of the blockchain.
The diference of a central database and the blockchain is descentralized, so no human can change the trust of the block.

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#5673
  1. Consensus determine the truth because all transactions are validated by all computers on the bitcoin network before it is entered into the blockchain at all time. All nodes are financially incentivized, to tell the truth.
  2. In a central database, the owner can add any transaction they want. We have to trust them that the information is correct.
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#5674

  1. This means that there’s a collective decision made by the blockchain system or different ledgers that doublecheck the transactions whether to approve or deny the request.

  2. The idea of trust in the blockchain is related to the approval of the different ledgers and not for individuals that can edit or modify a regular database. It means that trust is built by the computer network and they’re programmed or “incentivize” to say the truth.

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#5675

  1. Consensus determines truth by a series of nodes agreeing on a transaction. The parties that own the nodes are given incentives to verify the transactions truthfully making trustworthy transaction.

  2. A central database could be altered at any point as no party interacted with that database has a means of verification.

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#5676
  1. When all cpus come the a consensus on a transaction being valid it is added to the blockchain becoming the truth or correct version of the latest block in the chain.
    2.in a central database yoy must put trust in the person recording the history in the database entering information that is true
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#5677

  1. Consensus means that the entire network of computers in the blockchain must agree upon what is true and what is not. If it is true, it is added. If the transaction is false, it is discarded. The network must reach a consensus on the truth.

  2. In a central database, a central person or authority has the the ability to determine the truth. No consensus is needed for the database to be altered.

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#5678
  1. What does it mean when we say that in blockchain, consensus determine the truth?
    Answer:
    Consensus is the truth determinant in blockchain in the sense that transparent verification is done in a way that trust is ruled out completely from the network, and this is being achieved comfortably with the help of incentives.
  2. How is this different from how truth is determined in a central database?
    Answer:
    In a centralize database, given data is only from one source and there is no choice left with end user in the network to choose to believe the given data from the central source as there is no reliable means of verification from various network.
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#5679
  1. What does it mean when we say that in blockchain, consensus determines the truth?

It means that there is no central entity that determines if a transaction on the block is true or false, the decision is made by the agreement of all the different nodes in the chain. This “Enables decentralization which makes a trustless system” Ivan on Tech.

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

In a central database the central entity can determine which transactions are true and which are false, they can alter the chain, this is much more difficult in a consensus mechanism such as blockchain because all the nodes have to agree on what is true instead of just one central entity.

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#5680

  1. With consensus a network of computers collaborate to validate transactions. In this manner you can remove ‘trust’ from the equation by acting in a decentralized manner. Bad transactions are rejected from being applied to the blockchain. Computers have incentives to validate through bitcoin rewards .

  2. With a central database truth is determined by some centralized governing authority. You have to ‘trust’ that governing body that the data is in fact accurate.

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#5681

  1. What does it mean when we say that in blockchain, consensus determines the truth? Each node (Entity) on the network is given monetary incentive to be honest, meaning each node checks on each other.

  2. How is this different from how truth is determined in a central database? One person or a group of people are given permissions to add or subtract information, allowing for potential corruption of data

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#5682

  1. consensus in other words could be described as a Voting or approval process.
    where the maximum number of approvals can result in adding blocks to a blockchain.

  2. In a central database, truth may be determined by ‘trusting’ or accepting that the entries made by a central authority is correct.

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#5683
  1. The truth in a blockchain is the shares truth among all participants (mainly nodes) and therefore their shared consensus is the truth.
  2. In a central database the truth is whatever the central entity wants it to be and this can differ from objective reality.
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#5684

  1. Every transaction is verified by nodes on the blockchain that all hold a copy of the ledger. This way there is no need for trust since the the ledger split over countless of nodes.

  2. In a centralized database trust is needed because you have a third party running the ledger on the database that have access to it and can easaliy change it.

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#5685

  1. What does it mean when we say that in blockchain, consensus determines the truth?

    If the nodes of the blockchain agree that a transaction is true. That will be so.
    That would mean that if all the node agree that a fake transaction is true, the blockchain will register it on itself. The key thing is that the network has incentives to play correctly. Said that, people want to find fake transactions to make more money. That removes the possibility of cheeting.

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

    A central database defines what the truth is. We have to trust on the database’s owner that the data is correct but we can’t verify it. To increase the trustfulness many companies have audit processes from third party companies to make sure the company has the correct processes.

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#5686

1 - Bascially different computers or nodes I believe are coming to an agreement that the information they are seeing is accurate on everyone’s ledger.

2 - We don’t know X’s starting origin and it is not possible to know exactly if we are getting the correct information.

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#5687

1.) In blockchain, the network is distributed among multiple independent users. The network of individuals doesn’t accept something as truth unless everybody is in agreement. Therefore it doesn’t require trust in a single entity, because it would take a majority of the network to commit fraud.

2.) A centralized database can only determine what is true when people believe it has credibility. Everybody outside of the centralized database would have to have faith, therefore, it isn’t trustless.

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