• "…see how it cracked the Byzantine Generals Problem, a previously unsolved problem in computer science whose brilliant resolution enabled the entire field of blockchain research."
Yes, Bitcoin does include a solution to the Byzantine Generals Problem, but it been solved in other ways years before (https://en.wikipedia…
• "…see how it cracked the Byzantine Generals Problem, a previously unsolved problem in computer science whose brilliant resolution enabled the entire field of blockchain research."
Yes, Bitcoin does include a solution to the Byzantine Generals Problem, but it been solved in other ways years before (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Byzantine_fault#Early_solutions). It's dishonest to imply that it was an unsolved problem until Bitcoin came along, and it makes me wonder what else I can't trust in this essay.
The point is, while it's one thing to solve a problem, it's beyond next level to create an entirely new world paradigm as a result of solving it. But it's understandable that many people will want to take their blocks and go home. The fast track is not for everybody.
Nakamoto's technical breakthrough enabled Byzantine fault-tolerant consensus in an asynchronous environment with an open network, which any node can join or leave at any time. We didn’t know how to do this before. So this algorithm greatly expanded the scope of what we can do with decentralized systems, and I think the substance of the sentence holds.
However, you could rephrase as follows: “...how it cracked the Byzantine Generals Problem, an important problem in computer science whose novel solution enabled the entire field of blockchain research.”
Oops, I forgot one.
• "…see how it cracked the Byzantine Generals Problem, a previously unsolved problem in computer science whose brilliant resolution enabled the entire field of blockchain research."
Yes, Bitcoin does include a solution to the Byzantine Generals Problem, but it been solved in other ways years before (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Byzantine_fault#Early_solutions). It's dishonest to imply that it was an unsolved problem until Bitcoin came along, and it makes me wonder what else I can't trust in this essay.
The point is, while it's one thing to solve a problem, it's beyond next level to create an entirely new world paradigm as a result of solving it. But it's understandable that many people will want to take their blocks and go home. The fast track is not for everybody.
Nakamoto's technical breakthrough enabled Byzantine fault-tolerant consensus in an asynchronous environment with an open network, which any node can join or leave at any time. We didn’t know how to do this before. So this algorithm greatly expanded the scope of what we can do with decentralized systems, and I think the substance of the sentence holds.
However, you could rephrase as follows: “...how it cracked the Byzantine Generals Problem, an important problem in computer science whose novel solution enabled the entire field of blockchain research.”
More:
https://www.preethikasireddy.com/post/lets-take-a-crack-at-understanding-distributed-consensus
Thanks for the clarification.