Saturday, January 6, 2018

The Price of Craftsmanship and the Zen of Protocol Design

Having read the comments of a former business partner of mine, which will be addressed later in a dedicated blog post, I’ve decided to draft my thoughts on how IOHK approaches the design of Cardano and by extension all the cryptocurrencies it works on. As this space has become polarized with the politics of personal destruction, financial incentives to lie and a stunning lack of respect for critical analysis, I’ll try not to mention project names- just my opinion on what good design principles ought to look like. I freely admit, I could be misguided or stuck in my ways.


First, we have to define what is the point of our labor. What goals are we trying to achieve and who needs the solution? It’s stunning to me how we are littered with solutions seeking problems connected to a token actively trading. Decentralized computation, storage and other services need an audience in order to be useful and they need a necessary edge in order to survive beyond hype.


For example, replicated computation that is byzantine resistant is what Ethereum brough to the table. We freely admitted that market demand was unclear and that use cases would materialize after we launched (the field of dreams gamble). Whether those uses are economically viable or optimal, was and still is an open question being explored and forcing enhancements.


What is undeniably valuable was the beginning of a conversation about outsourcing computation in a way where the server couldn’t be trusted; either couldn’t trusted to return a correct result or not trusted to de-prioritize a particular program due to some agenda. The net neutrality debate is highlighting this concern most directly.


There seems to be an audience that likes the problems that Ethereum is trying to solve. Thus it begs the question what is the best way of doing so? What tools do we have in our bag and who are the craftsman who ought to weld them?


The point of the Cardano project has always been to build something from first principles using a functional programming approach, embracing formal methods, and checking our progress through peer review. We chose these three pillars because experience tells us that humans are good at self-deception, forming personality cults and making extremely subtle mistakes that eventually cascade (heartbleed is a great example).


Functional programming is getting code close to math. It’s saying scientists draft a beautiful blueprint and then let’s pull that blueprint directly into reality. There are some wonderful lectures from the Clojure community on the elegance of functional programming techniques (1)(2), but the broader point is that simplicity, modularity and conciseness matters more than performance.


Machines keep getting faster; legacy code is like a tattoo. You’re going to have to live with it so make it pretty. We chose Haskell because it has the perfect intersection between practicality and theory. It gives us wonderful libraries like Cloud Haskell and a community that’s extremely smart and supportive of new techniques and ideas as they become necessary.


Formal methods are an acknowledgement of the semantic gap. Humans and computers are fundamentally different animals and until Ray Kurzweil delivers us to the Singularity, we will be quite distinct. This axiom extends down to the computer’s understanding of our intent versus our own.


The DAO hack is a recent textbook example. The engineers who wrote the contract had a clear understanding of intent, but it differed slightly in code and as a consequence a hacker could cause havoc. The point of formal methods is to close the gap between man and machine.


Specification captures the intent of the scientists who spend countless hours of rigorous labor carefully writing mathematical proofs. These proofs are riddled with ideal functionality and ambiguity from an implementation perspective. Basically, such papers are the inky equivalent of the spirit Billiken- the god of things as they should be instead of what they are.


A formal specification process is slow, uncomfortable, pedantic and requires exotic languages and skills. As a consequence, it’s also terribly expensive and not fun for most people. But such techniques save lives (think planes and trains), money (think Mars Rover) and dramatically enhance our understanding of the protocols we wish to deploy (lies melt).


We’ve written some blog posts on techniques (1)(2)(3) and the philosophy we follow as well as have done a whiteboard video. As most of our work is transparent, the specification of Ouroboros Praos is no different. The repo can be seen here. Like a fine painting requiring exhaustively small brush strokes to gradually make the whole, we are paying that price of craftsmanship.


Finally, there is peer review. It somehow is conflated, misunderstood or in some cases discarded as an unnecessary formality to appease irrelevant ivory towers out of touch with the plight of normal man. I counter every single one of these attacks with a single question: can you understand the papers cryptographers write?


Humility will yield an answer of no for the majority of the populate. This statement isn’t self-serving arrogance. It’s respect for a language born from decades of careful study. Medicine has research. Physics has research.


Why is it so controversial to state that a paper like this is outside of the ken of most people? It isn’t elitism; it’s an acknowledgement that the people who wrote it spent decades of their lives learning how to write that paper and think like they do.


Somehow in the cryptocurrency space, we have forgotten that our underlying technology is constructed upon foundations of cryptography, distributed systems, game theory and programming language theory amongst other considerations. The people who study these fields literally have invested tens of thousands of hours to become proficient- meaning they can read and understand the papers- and that’s not even making a statement about meaningful and original contributions.


The question we ought to ask isn’t can I understand the papers. That’s like asking the public to understand the US Federal Budget. The question ought to be what process should this work go through in order for it to be considered correct?


Peer review via IACR conferences is an excellent option. The conferences are managed by domain experts who don’t have a financial incentive to like or dislike any particular work. The review process is double blind. The conferences hold high standards where most submissions are rejected. And acceptance means you have to show up and discuss the work with your peers.


It isn’t a perfect process by any means, but it’s a standard of quality that is objective. It’s a benchmark to start a conversation with and provide some assurance that the work meets basic standards. That someone who actually can read the paper, has read the paper and thinks it’s ok.


Like all good science, one needs to continue evolving, continue pushing the boundaries and continue asking difficult and often uncomfortable questions. The ultimate point of peer review is to acknowledge you aren’t an island and you don’t want to go on that journey alone. It’s asking for help from fellow travelers who are just as capable if not more so than you.      


As an outside observer, many of which who are directly investing their hard earned money, one should be actively asking about processes that produce truth. We chose peer review because it’s the best tool in our box that we know how to use to check our claims. It has given us modern medicine. It has given us modern physics. There is no reason it can’t be used to help give us better money.


As a final point, both Algorand and Snow White carry similar structural properties to Ouroboros. The exact same criticisms that my former business partner naively applies to Ouroboros could be applied to them - meaning that a Turing prize winner and Cornell are both inferior as well given that logic.


There also was a lack of appreciation for the holistic nature of protocol design. Raw TPS isn’t an end, it’s a necessity of large scale use. Yet there are other considerations such as network performance and the ability to store with high availability the eventual exabytes of data these systems will demand.


The Zen of protocol design is understanding that all things have to flow from a common source. That this source needs to be on bedrock, simple and secure. That this source needs to be perfectly balanced and grow naturally to meet the needs of its users. When a protocol achieves this state, like TCP/IP did, the results are magical. Others like PGP have failed despite their brilliance.


The point of how we have gone about designing Cardano is to seek this balance in our design. Ouroboros was built very carefully and in the most general way we could understand. It can be tuned to operate like many conventional protocols or run in new modes.


It will eventually include modifications to dramatically scale performance when it is necessary. We’ve even broadened the discussion to include topics like RINA and Delta-Q because they are absolutely required for natural scaling.


Yet in all these things, we are doing it with principles, craftsmanship and honesty. It’s a long and very hard journey, but has been a fun one.


Thanks for reading

<{Axiom}>

24 comments:

  1. Replies
    1. Hello everyone..Welcome to my free masterclass strategy where i teach experience and inexperience traders the secret behind a successful trade.And how to be profitable in trading I will also teach you how to make a profit of $12,000 USD weekly and how to get back all your lost funds feel free to email me on(brucedavid004@gmail.com) or whataspp number is +22999290178







      Hello everyone..Welcome to my free masterclass strategy where i teach experience and inexperience traders the secret behind a successful trade.And how to be profitable in trading I will also teach you how to make a profit of $12,000 USD weekly and how to get back all your lost funds feel free to email me on(brucedavid004@gmail.com) or whataspp number is +22999290178

      Delete
  2. Great rebuttal. Peer review is the one thing no one else has! This is our killer feature! You are our savior.

    ReplyDelete
  3. English is not my first language, therefore had to ready twice or more some sentences. Its amazing what Cardano is going to be. I happyni found Cardano on time.
    Polcat81

    ReplyDelete
  4. good point of view. i love Cardano project method

    ReplyDelete
  5. You didn't address the point, which is the Cardano whitepaper doesn't cite prior art in proof-of-stake, which is really not great. The fact that it doesn’t cite any prior work in Proof-of-Stake. It does not cite the original inventor of Pos (QuantumMechanic 2011), Peercoin (2012), Nxt (2013) or Larimer’s DPOS (2014). It does cite Buterin, which is kind of ironic because Ethereum started as PoW, and its not clear what their contribution is.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. This comment has been removed by the author.

      Delete
    2. It does actually:

      https://eprint.iacr.org/2016/889.pdf

      1See “Proof of stake instead of proof of work”, Bitcoin forum thread. Posts by user “QuantumMechanic” and
      others. (https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=27787.0.).
      2A non-exhaustive list includes NXT, Neucoin, Blackcoin, Tendermint, Bitshares.

      Delete
    3. This comment has been removed by the author.

      Delete
  6. It is very unfortunate that so many in the academic community will spend countless hours researching and formulating papers that will go largely unnoticed and unappreciated. But alas, that is just another facet of reality. The efforts to build brilliant technology may never be recognized by the very people it serves to benefit the most.

    We are bombarded by misinformation and lies every day of our lives. It shouldn't be a big surprise that there will be doubts on every side of an argument. There are those who still doubt that the world is round, or that man has landed on the moon. Let them watch their conspiracy theory shows on satellite TV in peace. Maybe they'll change their minds once IOHK gets us to the moon.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Thanks for taking the time to write this Charles.

    ReplyDelete
  8. Ctrl + F “peer review” on this page.

    Holy fuck. Cardano is such an overhyped academic circle-jerk.

    Cardano will be a slower EOS, smelling its own farts along the way. Academia doesn’t lead the charge in distributed ledgers; world-class programmers do.

    Dan is the most tested individual in the space regarding fast, secure throughput and you should be ashamed of yourself for not citing his work. You should update your papers with proper citations.

    Whether you and Dan get along personally is totally irrelevant here. It’s an issue of honesty and integrity.

    Signed,
    Concerned Owl

    ReplyDelete
  9. Thank you Mr. Hoskinson, for such a well written and expansive yet concise piece, of your time. I think you are 100% correct , and it is clearly evident the iohk team knows the fundamentals of the church turing hypothesis , which , really is at the heart of how we can consider finding and knowing "truth-value".

    To be "first and fast" , one would naturally need ingrain themselves in imperative contexts .. just like Turing had to.

    But in a world where truth and formal validity are the only immutables, one is very wise to be cogent of Godel's point of view, and Alonzo's "safer" path.. because in the end, what is more valuable? Truth? Or Agility ... One can possess both , hopefully, but truth is discovered and tested formally, and holds "real" and forever value, it is thus worth the pursuit, albeit more slowly. It is justly with utmost care that a Craftsman pursues.

    ReplyDelete
  10. Hello, Charles.

    This is Rex Liu from China. I'm very interested in your detailed rebuttal. This is really amazing to learn that Cardano is working on its own path and stick to its principles. Incredible work.

    I am really thrilled to go hand in hand with you. Right now, I am dedicated to translating valuable blockchain books and articles into Chinese and enlightening more people of the new technology and everything else. Some top Chinese blockchain leaders and evangelists, such as James Gong, Dr. Bin Lu, are our community advisors. And our team members are all your big fans and appreciate your remarkable work.

    Therefore, I'd like to translate the article into Chinese and seek your permission to post this translation on https://www.bihu.com, which is kind of the Chinese version of Steemit. I might receive some token from the translation. I will put author, title and link at the top and encourage people to visit the original article and clap for it.

    Your early reply is highly appreciated. Please reach me if you have any inquiries. (rexliu1912@gmail.com).

    Best regards,

    Rex Liu

    ReplyDelete
  11. Hello everyone..Welcome to my free masterclass strategy where i teach experience and inexperience traders the secret behind a successful trade.And how to be profitable in trading I will also teach you how to make a profit of $12,000 USD weekly and how to get back all your lost funds feel free to email me on(brucedavid004@gmail.com) or whataspp number is +22999290178






    Hello everyone..Welcome to my free masterclass strategy where i teach experience and inexperience traders the secret behind a successful trade.And how to be profitable in trading I will also teach you how to make a profit of $12,000 USD weekly and how to get back all your lost funds feel free to email me on(brucedavid004@gmail.com) or whataspp number is +22999290178

    ReplyDelete
  12. As claimed by Stanford Medical, It is in fact the ONLY reason women in this country get to live 10 years more and weigh an average of 42 pounds less than us.

    (And realistically, it really has NOTHING to do with genetics or some secret diet and EVERYTHING to around "how" they eat.)

    BTW, What I said is "HOW", and not "WHAT"...

    Click this link to determine if this little quiz can help you release your true weight loss potential

    ReplyDelete
  13. Hello everyone, Are you into trading or just wish to give it a try, please becareful on the platform you choose to invest on and the manager you choose to manage your account because that’s where failure starts from be wise. After reading so much comment i had to give trading tips a try, I have to come to the conclusion that binary options pays massively but the masses has refused to show us the right way to earn That’s why I have to give trading tips the accolades because they have been so helpful to traders . For a free masterclass strategy kindly contact (paytondyian699@gmail.com) for a free masterclass strategy. He'll give you a free tutors on how you can earn and recover your losses in trading for free..

    ReplyDelete
  14. Ineluctables, your hall your poet places be expecting within the delirious exploration/calamitous reputation bunss whole lecturer organization alongside heterogeneous flocks. Personally, I could associate to the exegesis. cardano pool tool

    ReplyDelete
  15. Excellent information provided by you through this post. I follow all the mentioned information about The Price of Craftsmanship. If you are looking to know about How to Send Crypto From Coinbase to Binance? then you don’t need to take stress as we are available here at: www.cryptowalletsupport.com

    ReplyDelete
  16. All thanks to Mr Anderson for helping with my profits and making my fifth withdrawal possible. I'm here to share an amazing life changing opportunity with you. its called Bitcoin / Forex trading options. it is a highly lucrative business which can earn you as much as $2,570 in a week from an initial investment of just $200. I am living proof of this great business opportunity. If anyone is interested in trading on bitcoin or any cryptocurrency and want a successful trade without losing notify Mr Anderson now.Whatsapp: (+447883246472 )
    Email: tdameritrade077@gmail.com

    ReplyDelete
  17. I enjoyed over read your blog post.
    Your blog have nice information, I got good idea from this amazing blog.
    I am always searching like this type blog post. I hope I will see again…
    wordpress
    blogspot
    youtube
    កាស៊ីណូអនឡាញ

    ReplyDelete
  18. Hivelance is one of the top NFT gaming platform development company, we offer the blockchain powered NFT Gaming Platform for global users with world class functions and features. We develop NFT games with an end to end service to the client. Create & launch your own NFT Marketplace instantly with the help of Hivelance. For details visit here NFT gaming development company

    ReplyDelete