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| 1 | On Sun, Aug 30, 2015 at 1:43 AM, Peter R <[email protected]> wrote: | |
| 2 | > Dear Greg, | |
| 3 | > | |
| 4 | > I am moving our conversation into public as I've recently learned that | |
| 5 | > you've been forwarding our private email conversation verbatim without | |
| 6 | > my permission [I received permission from dpinna to share the email | |
| 7 | > below that proves this fact]. | |
| 8 | ||
| 9 | - | Unfortunately, your work extensive as it was -- separately-- made two |
| 9 | + | Unfortunately, your work extensive as it was made at least two |
| 10 | - | non-disclosed or poorly disclosed simplifying assumption and a significant |
| 10 | + | non-disclosed or poorly-disclosed simplifying assumptions and a significant |
| 11 | - | system understanding error which undermined it completely. |
| 11 | + | system understanding error which, I believe, undermined it completely. |
| 12 | ||
| 13 | In short these were: | |
| 14 | ||
| 15 | * You assume miners do not have the ability to change their level | |
| 16 | centralization. | |
| 17 | ||
| 18 | - | -- In fact they do, in practice they _seem_ to have responded to |
| 18 | + | -- In fact they do, not just in theory but in pratice have responded |
| 19 | - | blocksize this way in the past; and it is one of the major |
| 19 | + | to orphaning this way in the past; and it is one of the major |
| 20 | concerns in this space. | |
| 21 | ||
| 22 | * You assume the supply of bitcoin is infinite (that subsidy never | |
| 23 | declines) | |
| 24 | ||
| 25 | -- It declines geometrically, and must if the 21m limit is to be upheld. | |
| 26 | (Though I think this is not equally important to the concerns) | |
| 27 | ||
| 28 | * You argue, incorrectly, that amount of information which must be | |
| 29 | transmitted at the moment a block is discovered is proportional to the | |
| 30 | block's size. | |
| 31 | - | -- Instead the same information can be transmitted _in advance_ as |
| 31 | + | |
| 32 | - | has been previously proposed and various techniques can make this |
| 32 | + | -- Instead the same information can be transmitted _in advance_, as |
| 33 | - | arbitrarily efficient. |
| 33 | + | has been previously proposed, and various techniques can make doing |
| 34 | so arbitrarily efficient. | |
| 35 | ||
| 36 | [I would encourage anyone who is interested to read the included off-list | |
| 37 | discussion] | |
| 38 | ||
| 39 | I contacted you in private as a courtesy in the hope that it would be | |
| 40 | a more productive pathway to improving our collective understanding; as well | |
| 41 | as a courtesy to the readers of the list in consideration of traffic levels. | |
| 42 | ||
| 43 | In one sense, this was a success: Our conversation concluded with you | |
| 44 | enumerating a series of corrective actions that you would take: | |
| 45 | ||
| 46 | -------- | |
| 47 | > 1. I will make it more clear that the results of the paper hinge on | |
| 48 | > the assumption that block solutions are propagated across channels, | |
| 49 | > and that the quantity of pure information communicated per solution | |
| 50 | > is proportional to the amount of information contained within the block. | |
| 51 | > | |
| 52 | > 2. I will add a note [unless you ask me not to] something to the effect | |
| 53 | > of "Greg Maxwell challenges the claim that the coding gain cannot | |
| 54 | > be infiniteā¦" followed by a summary of the scenario you described. | |
| 55 | > I will reference "personal communication." I will also run the note | |
| 56 | > by you before I make the next revision public. | |
| 57 | > | |
| 58 | > 3. I will point out that if the coding gain can be made spectacularly | |
| 59 | > high, that the propagation impedance in my model will become very small, | |
| 60 | > and that although a fee market may strictly exist in the asymptotic | |
| 61 | > sense, such a fee market may not be relevant (the phenomena in the paper | |
| 62 | > would be negligible compared to the dynamics from some other effect). | |
| 63 | > | |
| 64 | > 4. [UNRELATED] I also plan to address Dave Hudson's objections in my | |
| 65 | > next revision (the "you don't orphan your own block" point). | |
| 66 | > | |
| 67 | > Lastly, thank you for the note about what might happen when fees > | |
| 68 | > rewards. I've have indeed been thinking about this. I believe it is | |
| 69 | > outside the scope of the present paper, although I am doing some work | |
| 70 | > on the topic. (Perhaps I'll add a bit more discussion on this topic | |
| 71 | > to the present paper to get the reader thinking in this direction). | |
| 72 | -------- | |
| 73 | ||
| 74 | To the best of my knowledge, you've taken none of these corrective | |
| 75 | actions in the nearly month that has passed. I certainly understand being | |
| 76 | backlogged, but you've also continued to make public comments about your | |
| 77 | work seemingly (to me) in contradiction with the above corrective actions. | |
| 78 | ||
| 79 | - | work and wasn't made aware of these points. The result was that the other |
| 79 | + | |
| 80 | - | authors work may require significant revisions. I complained about this |
| 80 | + | work and wasn't made aware of these points. A result was that the other |
| 81 | - | to you, again privately, and your apparent response was to post to that |
| 81 | + | author's work may require significant revisions. |
| 82 | - | thread stating that there was a details-unspecified academic disagreement |
| 82 | + | |
| 83 | - | with me and "I look forward to a white paper demonstrating otherwise!", |
| 83 | + | I complained about this to you, again privately, and your (apparent) |
| 84 | - | in direct contradiction for your remarks to me three weeks ago in private |
| 84 | + | response was to post to that thread stating that there was a |
| 85 | - | correspondence. -- Contrast, in private you said that your model may |
| 85 | + | details-unspecified academic disagreement with me and "I look forward |
| 86 | - | only hold in an asymptotic sense and that "the phenomena in the paper |
| 86 | + | to a white paper demonstrating otherwise!", in direct contradiction to |
| 87 | - | would be negligible compared to the dynamics from some other effect"; |
| 87 | + | your remarks to me three weeks ago in private correspondence: In private |
| 88 | - | but in public you said my complaints were "academic"? |
| 88 | + | you said that your model may only hold in an asymptotic sense and that |
| 89 | "the phenomena in the paper (may) be negligible compared to the dynamics | |
| 90 | from some other effect"; but in public you said /my/ complaints were | |
| 91 | "academic". | |
| 92 | ||
| 93 | At this point I thought continuing to withhold this information from | |
| 94 | the other author was unethical and no longer justified by courtesy | |
| 95 | - | read it and consider it.". I apologize if in doing so I've breached |
| 95 | + | |
| 96 | - | your confidence, none of the material we discussed was a sort that I |
| 96 | + | |
| 97 | - | would have ordinarily considered private, and you had already talked |
| 97 | + | |
| 98 | - | about making the product of our communication published as part of your |
| 98 | + | read it and consider it.". |
| 99 | - | corrective actions. I do not think it would be reasonable to demand that |
| 99 | + | |
| 100 | - | I spent time repeating the same discussion again with the other author, |
| 100 | + | I apologize if in doing so I've breached your confidence, none of the |
| 101 | - | or deprive them of your side of it and/or the corrective actions which |
| 101 | + | material we discussed was a sort that I would have ordinarily considered |
| 102 | - | you had said you would take but have not taken. As you say, 'we are |
| 102 | + | private, and you had already talked about making the product of our |
| 103 | - | all here trying to learn about this new amazing thing called Bitcoin'; |
| 103 | + | communication published as part of your corrective actions. |
| 104 | - | and I'm not embarrassed to error towards doing that, but I am sorry |
| 104 | + | I do not think it would be reasonable to demand that I spent time |
| 105 | repeating the same discussion again with the other author, or deprive | |
| 106 | them of your side of it and/or the corrective actions which you had | |
| 107 | said you would take but have not yet taken. | |
| 108 | ||
| 109 | As you say, 'we are all here trying to learn about this new amazing | |
| 110 | thing called Bitcoin'; and I'm not embarrassed to error towards doing | |
| 111 | that and aiding others in doing so, but at the same time I am sorry | |
| 112 | that I have done so in a way which caused you injury. | |
| 113 | ||
| 114 | In any case, your prior proposed corrective actions seemed sufficient to me. | |
| 115 | ||
| 116 | It surprises me, greatly, that you are failing to see the extreme | |
| 117 | practicality of what I described to you, and that it does not meaningfully | |
| 118 | diminish miner control of transaction selection-- but even without it your | |
| 119 | remark that the proportionality could be arbitrarily small (Rather than | |
| 120 | 0, as I argue) is an adequate correction to your work. I believe my time | |
| 121 | would be better spent actually _implementing_ improved relaying described | |
| 122 | (and describe what was implemented) than continue a purely academic debate | |
| 123 | with you over in inconsequential difference between epsilon and zero. | |
| 124 | ||
| 125 | Cheers, |