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This article introduces the knowledge of "is blockchain a distributed database?". In the operation of actual cases, many people will encounter such a dilemma. Then let the editor lead you to learn how to deal with these situations. I hope you can read it carefully and be able to achieve something!

Block chain = distributed database?

Is the blockchain a distributed database?

The answer is obviously yes.

And this is as obvious as a distributed database is a database and a database is software. We don't really care much about the correct nonsense that "database is software". We are more concerned about the powerful data retrieval function provided by the database, which can not be provided by general software; we are more concerned about the reliability and expansibility brought to us by distribution, which can not be provided by the general database. When we describe specific objects in a collection, we are always more concerned with the differences and the benefits that can be brought by the differences.

So, is blockchain just a distributed database?

Before the blockchain, we didn't see a distributed database that could be run by two or more enterprises, let alone run automated business processes that could verify each other on such a database. Of course, blockchain can't stop users from using it as a "distributed database", just as I can't stop my mother from putting my books on my desk and feet.

From the design goal, the distributed database is more concerned about how to slice the data and improve the throughput of the whole system. Blockchain is more concerned with how to form consensus and create trust. The design goal will fundamentally affect the system design.

The traditional distributed database runs within the unified trust boundary, while the attack and defense only occur on the trust boundary and do not exist within the boundary. Database storage sharding, the purpose of local consensus in slicing is for throughput and data availability, and there is no need for global consensus between slices. Cryptography, as an art of attack and defense, does not have much room to play here.

One of the basic assumptions of the blockchain is that the system nodes do not trust each other, the nodes can be unreliable, capricious, can be controlled by hackers, and can change the software code to do anything. Blockchain agreements must lead reliable nodes together to form an overall consensus and build trust. To make a very appropriate example, if the distributed database is a professional team, the blockchain is the passer-by of the temporary group. As the soul of the team, you must "cut in the eye" and "TP down the road" sent by your teammates! , "TP hit the road!" , "Wild monster pull ha", "musket pay attention to jump big" and "you hit a hammer" and other instructions, try to turn the tide and go to the high ground. It is because the blockchain can tolerate such dui points (you) that trust can be generated spontaneously.

What is the blockchain?

To some extent, we can say that the inefficiency of the blockchain is the price it pays for trust. Blockchains can store data, but we don't use blockchains to store general data-although the Godfather trilogy is a classic, it is too expensive to upload 130G Blu-ray DVD to the blockchain for storage. What we should store in the blockchain is the data that needs to be widely agreed upon, which is called Common Knowledge in game theory.

Common knowledge is the knowledge that is accepted by a group. The participants in the group not only know the knowledge themselves, but also know that other people in the group also know the knowledge. The concept of common knowledge sounds strange, but in fact it is everywhere in our daily life. To take the simplest example, there are no 4 or 13 floors in an office building, because most people think that 4 and 13 are unlucky, and developers also know that most people think that 4 and 13 are unlucky; tenants do not see these two floors in the building. They will not think that the developers have forgotten the design, but will speculate that the developers think that the 4th and 13th floors are unlucky so they have made an intimate design, so they will not complain to 315. Based on common knowledge, there is no interaction between tenants and developers to generate a little bit of trust.

Mathematical concept is a kind of common knowledge. For example, we all agree with the definitions of multiplication, modular operation, prime number and so on, so the assertion that "X is the product of prime number P and prime number Q" can be independently verified by everyone without unnecessary communication. Such common knowledge seems abstract and useless, but it can be magnified by engineering and affect all aspects of our lives. RSA asymmetric signature is based on these concepts and is now the cornerstone of trust in society as a whole.

The incident of Blue Eye Island

Many intellectual problems are also applied to common knowledge. For example, the Blue Eye Island incident from the male god Tao Zhe Xuan:

There are 100 people on an island, including 5 red eyes and 95 blue eyes. The island has three strange religious rules.

1. They can't look in the mirror or look at the color of their eyes.

two。 They can't tell others what color each other's eyes are.

3. Once someone knows the color of his eyes, he must kill himself that night.

One day, a traveler came to the island. Because he didn't know the rules here, when he was partying with the people of the whole island, he inadvertently said: "you have red eyes here." ]

Question: suppose the people on this island are smart enough that everyone can make meticulous logical reasoning. May I ask what will happen on this island?

The rules here are the common knowledge recognized and accepted by the islanders. Everyone knows, and everyone knows that everyone else knows. If we look at hat problems, pirate games, etc., it's easy to find their common framework: presupposing a set of well-known rules (common knowledge), assuming that everyone is smart enough (logical reasoning). Finally come up with an unexpected answer (do you know what happened on Blue Eye Island? ).

Common knowledge can be objective (mathematics) or subjective (rules). Value is a kind of subjective common knowledge that only exists in people's minds. Value can come from our common belief that something is artistic, from our common belief that something can be used to pay taxes in the future, or from our common belief that one thing is valuable.

Is the blockchain a common knowledge base?

Why is blockchain a common knowledge base? Joining a blockchain network means participating in joint verification and recognizing the knowledge that has been verified. After the transaction is verified by the node, it is broadcast and saved together with the relevant certificate. Each user of the blockchain acknowledges that the transaction in the blockchain is valid, and knows that other users will acknowledge that the transaction in the blockchain is valid.

Common knowledge is the basis for predicting the behavior of others, and accurate prediction can reduce the risk in the future. Based on common knowledge, individuals can find the best strategies for themselves; if society can create common knowledge, it can create the best future for itself. Common knowledge can be said to be the basis of social cooperation. If we can improve the efficiency of the formation and transmission of common knowledge, even if it is only 1%, great changes will take place in our production and life.

In the past, we used to form and store common knowledge by word of mouth and pen and paper recording, but now we have new technologies that can achieve automated consensus and verification, reliable data transmission and storage, and produce new common knowledge in an industrial way. The common knowledge on the block chain can exist not only between people, but also between people and things, between things and things. It is only on the blockchain that we can efficiently create new trust on a large scale, not just migrate and carry existing trust.

The Internet has extended our communication to the world, allowing us to meet strangers on the other side of the world, blockchain and common knowledge base will expand our trust to the world, so that we can cooperate with strangers on the other side of the ocean. to create a better future.

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