#consensus algorithms

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Blockchain interview - 120 questions, 360  minutes

Purpose of this blog

There no need to introduce Blockchain, the use of which is widespread, which has resulted in increasing

number of openings for candidates, applying for job’s ranging from novices to experts.  A day or two prior to an interview, this blog might serve as companion, with the purpose of guiding applicants who intend to apply and get invited for an interview. The information on this blog is meant to help candidates prepare for interviews; it is not meant to be a comprehensive source of knowledge. A prerequisite is that applicant must already possess the necessary levels of expertise

Why does it matter?

Blockchain-related job interviews are no joke! Candidates that are very detail-oriented and have on-point abilities are what employers are searching for. Their questions are designed to test your ability to interact with the complex world of blockchain and provide solutions that are scalable, safe, and efficient.

Additionally, this type of exam evaluates an applicant's proficiency with the technologies underlying safe, hip decentralized apps.  These tests assess the candidate's knowledge of cryptography, decision-making techniques, writing smart contracts, and the key technologies that maintain blockchains' strength and resilience. Blockchain-focused interviews need applicants to be precise since the creation and upkeep of blockchain systems call for a high degree of precision and attention to detail. Employers can determine whether a candidate has the abilities necessary to negotiate the complexity of blockchain architecture and design safe, efficient, and scalable solutions thanks to the uniqueness of Blockchain developer interview questions. . Reading, an article doesn’t automatically guarantee a job. This is a lengthy blog, intended to detail as much as possible.

Target reader’s

Candidate’s appearing for job interviews

Recruiters and interviewers, possibly interested in being abreast of the trend’s

The general public, those who are  interested in being aware of this subject

The suggested recruitment process can be considered.

Written test, comprising 50 to 100 questions depending on the nature of the work, like a fresher, professional expert

Few companies might conduct mental, and verbal aptitude assessments

Once a candidate successfully completes the test and qualifies, he or she will be shortlisted and have to wait for an interview call

Based on the assessment result, a candidate will be called for an interview, in some cases, there are possibilities that even the technical and the final face-to-face interview might span 2 sessions, which are categorized into three categories Beginner, professional, and expert.

What is Blockchain and who is the inventor?

In 2009, Satoshi Nakamoto introduced Bitcoin and blockchain technology to the world. Bitcoin was created as a secure, decentralized, global currency that could serve as an alternative to traditional fiat currency. guy by the name of Satoshi Nakamoto created Bitcoin and introduced blockchain technology to the public in 2009. This is how blockchain got its start. The goal of Bitcoin was to provide a strong substitute for fiat money. worldwide money that is safe, decentralized, and capable of being exchanged. The currency was worth zero dollars in the first year. It now has a $126 million market capitalization. Nakamoto expanded upon the work of his predecessors. Although Stuart Haber and W. Scott Stornetta had started developing a cryptographically protected chain of blocks before the existence of Bitcoin, the first blockchain wasn't fully conceived until Nakamoto's conception in 2008.

2. What are the five core pillars that power Blockchain?

The five core pillars are decentralized distributed ledgers, and the blockchain system mainly involves five core technologies: ledger data structure.

3. What are the five core pillars that power Blockchain?

The five core pillars are decentralized distributed ledgers, and the blockchain system mainly involves five core technologies: ledger data structure.

4. Differentiate between Blockchain and Hyperledger.

Blockchain is a decentralized technology that uses cryptography to safeguard a chain of unchangeable data called blocks. Hyperledger, on the other hand, is a platform or organization that facilitates the creation of private blockchains.

Blockchain allows you to create both public and private Blockchains, but Hyperledger can only build private Blockchains.

Blockchain is classified into three types: public, private, and consortium, with Hyperledger being a private Blockchain system that restricts access to its data, configurations, and programming to a pre-set set of users. Blockchain technology can be applied across various sectors, including business, government, and healthcare, among others. On the other hand, Hyperledger is primarily focused on enterprise-level solutions. When discussing public blockchain, it refers to the use of blockchain on the internet, whereas Hyperledger-based blockchain solutions are designed for intranet usage, within the confines of an organization.

5. How can you explain blockchain technology to a person who has not even heard the name

Blockchain technology is a distributed ledger that keeps transaction details in immutable or non-modifiable records (known as blocks) that are cryptographically secure. Consider the concept of a school where Blockchain functions similarly to a student's digital report card. For example, each block comprises a student record with a label (indicating the date and time of entry). Neither the teacher nor the student will be able to change the contents of that block or the record of report cards. Furthermore, the teacher has a private key that allows him/her to create new records, while the student has a public key that allows him to view and access the report card at any time. So, effectively, the teacher has the power to edit the record, whereas the student simply has the right to see it. This procedure secures the data.

6. What do blocks in Blockchain mean?

Blockchain is a decentralized ledger made up of unchangeable blocks of information, safeguarded by advanced encryption techniques. Please check out the video to explore the different components of a block, such as the previous hash, transaction details, nonce, and target hash value. A block serves as a historical log of each transaction that takes place. Every time a block is successfully verified, it is added to the main Blockchain in the order in which it was confirmed. Once the information is captured, it remains immutable.

7. What are the steps involved in Blockchain?

A blockchain transaction begins with the initiation of the transaction, followed by signing it with a digital signature, broadcasting it to the network, validating the transaction by network nodes, and finally including it in a new block after consensus is archived

8. List prominent blockchain  platform/ technology

Ethereum

IBM Blockchain

Hyperledger fabric

Hyperledger sawtooth

Corda

Tezos

EOSIO

Stellar

Consensus Quorum

9. How is a Blockchain distributed ledger different from a traditional ledger?

A blockchain distributed ledger is highly transparent compared to a traditional ledger. Blockchain-distributed ledgers are also irreversible - information registered on them cannot be modified, unlike traditional ledgers where data can be changed.

Distributed ledgers are more secure, using cryptography to hash and record every transaction, whereas security can be compromised in traditional ledgers. Additionally, distributed ledgers have no central authority - they are decentralized systems where participants hold the authority to maintain the network and validate transactions. In contrast, traditional ledgers are based on centralized control.

In a distributed ledger, identities are unknown and hidden, whereas traditional ledger participants must have their identities known before transactions can occur. Distributed ledgers also have no single point of failure, as the data is distributed across multiple nodes. If one node fails, the other nodes maintain the information. Traditional ledgers, conversely, have a single point of failure - if the central system crashes, the entire network stops.

Data modification is not possible in a distributed ledger but can be done in a traditional ledger. Validation in a distributed ledger is performed by the network participants, while in a traditional ledger, it is done by a centralized authority. Finally, the ledger is shared amongst all participants in a distributed system, rather than maintained in a single centralized location as in traditional ledgers.

10. Describe the structure of a block

The structure of a block in a blockchain consists of four key elements: The hash value of the previous block, which links the current block to the previous one in the blockchain.

Details of several transaction data contained within the block.

A value called the nonce - a random number used to vary the hash value to generate a hash that is less than the target hash.

The hash of the block itself serves as the digital signature and unique identifier for the block. This hash is a 64-character alphanumeric value generated using the SHA-256 algorithm.

The header of the block consolidates the hash of the previous block, the transaction data, and the nonce. This header information is passed through a hashing function to generate the final hash value for the block

11. What is the role of crypto in Blockchain?

Incorporated information about public/private keys and how they are used for encryption/decryption in blockchain.

Explained more clearly how the cryptography secures user identities and ensures safe transactions through hash functions.

Used more concise and direct language to improve the overall clarity and flow of the sentence.

The rewritten version provides a more comprehensive and coherent explanation of how cryptography is leveraged within the blockchain network. The blockchain network utilizes the SHA-256 algorithm, a secure cryptographic hash function that generates a unique 64-character alphanumeric output for any given input. This one-way function allows for the derivation of an encrypted value from the original input but does not permit the reverse process of retrieving the input from the hash output.

12. What is the role of crypto in Blockchain?

Incorporated information about public/private keys and how they are used for encryption/decryption in blockchain.

Explained more clearly how the cryptography secures user identities and ensures safe transactions through hash functions.

Used more concise and direct language to improve the overall clarity and flow of the sentence.

The rewritten version provides a more comprehensive and coherent explanation of how cryptography is leveraged within the blockchain network. The blockchain network utilizes the SHA-256 algorithm, a secure cryptographic hash function that generates a unique 64-character alphanumeric output for any given input. This one-way function allows for the derivation of an encrypted value from the original input but does not permit the reverse process of retrieving the input from the hash output.

13. What are the Different types of Blockchain

There are 3 types.

Public: Every internet user may see ledgers, and anyone can validate and contribute a block of transactions to the Blockchain. Ethereum and Bitcoin are two examples.

Private: Although ledgers may be seen online, only particular people inside the company can create and validate transactions. Although the data is publicly accessible, it is stored on a permissioned blockchain, with pre-set controllers inside the organization. Block stack is one example.

Consortium: Only particular nodes have power over the consensus process. Nonetheless, ledgers are accessible to any member of the consortium Blockchain. Ripple is one example.14.

14. How does the Deployment of files with multiple contracts happen?

In the Blockchain system, it's not feasible to upload a document containing several agreements. The compiler only executes the final agreement within the uploaded document, ignoring the other agreements.

15. What is a wallet?

A blockchain wallet also known as a digital wallet is a computer program that allows users to keep, control, and exchange digital currencies such as cryptocurrencies. The key purpose of a blockchain wallet is to create one-of-a-kind cryptographic keys; the latter can be public (for receiving payment) or private (for sending payment), thus guaranteeing the secureness and transparency of transactions.

Level 2: Professional/ Expert

How is the hash (Block signature) generated

Transmitting information about a transaction using a one-way hash function, specifically SHA-256.

Applying the result of this hash to a signature algorithm (such as ECDSA) using the user's private key.

By doing this, the encrypted hash, along with additional data (like the hashing method), is referred to as the digital signature. By applying these procedures, the encrypted hash, together with additional data (like the hashing method), is referred to as the digital signature

15. What are the extensively used algorithms?

SHA - 256

RSA (Rivest-Shamir-Adleman)

Triple DES

Ethash

Blowfish

16. What is a smart contract and its uses?

Smart contracts are self-executing contracts that encapsulate the terms and conditions of an agreement between parties.

Some of their applications include:

Transportation: The shipment of goods can be easily tracked using smart

contracts.

Protecting Copyrighted Content: Smart contracts can safeguard ownership rights, such as those related to music or books.

Insurance: They can identify fraudulent claims and prevent forgeries.

Employment Contracts: Smart contracts can facilitate the process of wage payments.

17. What is the Ethereum network and how many Ethereum networks are you familiar with?

Ethereum is a platform built on blockchain technology that allows for distributed computing, with the ability to support smart contracts. This feature empowers users to develop and launch their own decentralized applications. In Ethereum, there exist three distinct categories of networks:

1. Live Network (Primary Network) - This network is utilized for the deployment of smart contracts.

2. Test Network (Such as Ropsten, Kovan, Rinkeby) - These networks facilitate users in executing their smart contracts without incurring any fees before their deployment on the primary network.

3. Private Network - These networks are not connected to the primary network but operate within the confines of an organization, while retaining the functionalities associated with an Ethereum network

The blockchains for Bitcoin and Ethereum differ in that although they are both decentralized ledgers, Bitcoin functions as a digital currency with an emphasis on peer-to-peer transactions of its own coinage. Ethereum presents the idea of smart contracts, which are self-executing agreements wherein the parties' terms are explicitly encoded into computer code.

17. Explain the distinction between   Bitcoin and anthurium blockchains

The blockchains for Bitcoin and Ethereum differ in that although they are both decentralised ledgers, Bitcoin functions as a digital currency with an emphasis on peer-to-peer transactions of its own coinage. Ethereum presents the idea of smart contracts, which are self-executing agreements wherein the parties' terms are explicitly encoded into computer code.

18. Describe Cryptocurrency mining, and the process involved?

The computational procedure used to validate transactions and add them to the blockchain, the public ledger, is known as cryptocurrency mining. Miners employ strong computers to get through challenging arithmetic issues. A specific number of Bitcoins are awarded to the miner when a new block is added to the network.

19. Where do nodes run a smart contract code?

Nodes execute smart contract code on the Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM). This virtual machine is specifically designed to function as a runtime environment for smart contracts built on Ethereum. The EVM operates within a sandboxed environment, isolated from the main network. This setup provides an ideal testing environment. Users can download the EVM, and execute your smart contract locally in an isolated manner, and once it has been thoroughly tested and verified, it can be deployed onto the main network.

20/What is a Dapp and how is it different from a normal application?

What is a Dapp and how is it different from a normal application?

Dapp is a decentralized application deployed using smart contracts. It consists of a backend code, or smart contract, which operates within a decentralized peer-to-peer network. The process involves three main components:

1. Front-end: This is the user interface that interacts with the application.

2. Smart Contract (Backend Code): This is the core of the application, responsible for executing transactions and managing data.

3. Blockchain (Peer-to-Peer Contract): This is the network layer that facilitates the interaction between the front end and the smart contract, ensuring secure and transparent transactions.

21. What is a Normal application?

A normal application features backend code that operates on a centralized server. It is a computer software application hosted on a central server. The process involves:

Front-end

API

Database (which runs on the server)

List a few prominent open-source platforms for developing Blockchain applications

Ethereum stands as one of the leading platforms for developing blockchain-based applications. Eris, on the other hand, is specifically designed for enterprise-focused solutions. Additionally, Hyperledger, Multichain, and Open Chain are among the other widely utilized platforms for creating blockchain applications. Recently, platform’s viz.

Ethereum

IBM Blockchain

Hyperledger fabric

Hyperledger sawtooth

Corda

Tezos

EOSIO

Stellar

ConsenSys Quorum,

are also being considered

22. What is the first parameter to be specified in the solidify file

Specifying the version number of Solidity at the beginning of the code is essential as it helps prevent compatibility errors that may occur during compilation with a different version. This clause is mandatory and must be included at the top of any Solidity code you write. Additionally, it's important to accurately mention the version number of the code.

23. What is the nonce and how is it used in mining

In Blockchain, mining involves validating transactions by solving a complex mathematical puzzle known as proof of work. Proof of work is the method used to determine a nonce and a cryptographic hash algorithm to generate a hash value lower than a specified target. The nonce is a random value employed to alter the hash value, ensuring that the resulting hash value satisfies the specified conditions.

What are the Steps involved in implementation?

24. Identification of the requirements

Identification of the requirements

Identify and list the issues and objectives

Find the best agreement process

Choose the most appropriate platform

Consider the costs of putting the plan into action and making it available

25. Planning

At this point, the person assesses all necessary criteria and chooses the best blockchain platform for implementation.

26. Development and implementation   of the project

Architecture Design

User Interface Development

API Development

27. Identify the requirements

Identification of the requirements

Identify and list the issues and objectives

Find the best agreement process

Choose the most appropriate platform

Consider the costs of putting the plan into action and making it available

28. Planning At this point, the person assesses all necessary criteria and chooses the best blockchain platform for implementation.

29. What are the steps in the Development and implementation   of the project

The step’s are

Architecture Design

User Interface Development

API Development

Project Control and Monitoring

32. What are the steps in the Development and implementation   of the project

The steps are

Architecture Design

User Interface Development

API Development

Project Control and Monitoring

33. What are the steps involved in monitoring and controlling?

The steps are

Architecture Design

User Interface Development

API Development

Project Control and Monitoring

34. List and explain the parts of EVM memory

It is classified into 3 types.

Storage

Data is permanently saved on the Blockchain network and it is very expensive

Memory: Memory serves as a temporary, modifiable form of storage. It is accessible solely during the period of contract execution. Upon completion of the execution phase, the data stored within it is irrevocably lost.

Stack: A stack is a temporary and unchangeable storage area.

In this case, the data is no longer available once the process finishes.

35. What happens if the execution of a smart contract costs more than the specified gas?

The amount of gas used is determined by the storage capacity and the set of instructions (codes) employed in a smart contract. The transaction fee is calculated in Ether, which is represented as:

Ether = Tx Fees = Gas Limit * Gas Price

36. What is the fork? What are some of the types of forking?

In layman's terms, the process of revising a cryptocurrency protocol or code is referred to as forking. This term denotes the division of a Blockchain into two separate branches. Such a division occurs when the network participants are unable to reach a consensus regarding the consensus algorithm and the new rules for transaction validation. Three types are

Hard forks

Soft forks

Accidental forks

37. What differentiates between Proof of Work vs Proof of Stake

Proof of work

In the context of Blockchain, Proof of Work (Pow) refers to the process of solving a complex mathematical puzzle known as mining. This process is contingent upon the miner's ability to perform substantial computational work. Miners dedicate considerable computing resources, including hardware, to decipher the cryptographic puzzle. Consequently, the likelihood of successfully mining a block is directly proportional to the amount of computational effort invested.

Proof of stake

Proof of Stake (PoS) serves as an alternative to Proof of Work (Pow) in which the goal of the Blockchain is to achieve distributed consensus. The likelihood of validating a block is directly proportional to the number of tokens you own. The more tokens you possess, the greater your chances of validating a block. It was developed as a solution to reduce the consumption of costly resources expended in mining.

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38. Describe 51% attack

In the context of Blockchain technology, a 51% attack denotes a security vulnerability characterized by the control exerted by a single individual or a collective of individuals over a significant portion of the mining capacity, specifically the hash rate. This concentration of power enables the perpetrators to obstruct the confirmation of new transactions and facilitates the execution of double-spending schemes involving the cryptocurrency in question. Notably, smaller cryptocurrencies are particularly susceptible to such attacks.

39. What are function modifiers in Solidity? Mention the most widely used modifiers.

In Solidity, function modifiers are utilized to effortlessly alter the behaviors of your smart contract functions. Put simply, they enable the addition of new features or impose restrictions on the functionality of smart contracts. The most commonly employed function modifiers in Solidity include:

View functions, also known as read-only functions, are those that do not alter the state of a smart contract. They are designed to be accessed and read, but not modified. For a comprehensive understanding, we recommend referring to our video, which provides an illustrative example of a View function.

Pure functions are those that neither read from nor write to the state of a smart contract. Instead, they return the same result as determined by their input values.

40. Describe Cryptocurrency Mining and the process involved in Bitcoin mining.

The computational procedure used to validate transactions and add them to the blockchain, the public ledger, is known as cryptocurrency mining. Miners employ strong computers to get through challenging arithmetic issues. A specific number of Bitcoins are awarded to the miner when a new block is added to the network.

41. What are the benefits of Etherates?

Ethereum functions as a distributed system of blockchain technology, facilitating the creation of a network where peer-to-peer interactions confirm and carry out the execution of application code known as smart contracts. These smart contracts enable users to engage in transactions without the need for a central governing body.

42. Describe Cryptocurrency Mining and the process involved in Bitcoin mining.

Cryptocurrency mining involves verifying and adding transactions to the public ledger, known as the blockchain, through a computational process. Miners utilize high-powered computers to solve intricate mathematical problems, resulting in the addition of a new block to the blockchain and the miner receiving a specific number of Bitcoins as a reward.

43. Elaborate on the concept of Hashing within the context of Blockchain.

The concept of hashing in Blockchain involves transforming input data into a fixed-size string of characters using a cryptographic algorithm, ensuring data integrity by making any alterations easily detectable through a vastly different hash output.

44. Enumerate the advantages associated with Blockchain Technology.

Blockchain Technology offers improved security through its cryptographic nature, greater transparency thanks to its open-source attribute, lower transaction costs by eliminating intermediaries, and enhanced traceability of transactions.

45. What are the different types of Blockchain?

Different kinds of Blockchains exist, including Public Blockchains, which are open to everyone; Private Blockchains, which are only accessible to invited individuals; Consortium Blockchains, which are managed by a group of organizations; and Hybrid Blockchains, which blend features of both public and private chains.

46. What is Blockchain explorer?

A Blockchain Explorer serves as a tool for users to investigate specific blocks, transactions, and addresses within a blockchain network, offering valuable information on transaction details and account balances.

47. What is a Smart contract and how does it operate?

Smart Contracts are contracts that automatically execute based on predefined conditions written in code, removing the necessity for intermediaries to enforce the terms and conditions.

48. What is Ethereum

Ethereum (ETH) operates as a decentralized, open-source blockchain network that supports smart contracts. It serves as a foundation for developers to create and release decentralized applications - Dapps

Ethereum, Ripple, EOS, Hyperledger, and Corda.

49. What is Ledger, different between traditional and distributed one

A ledger is a record-keeping book that maintains a list of all transactions. The difference between a distributed ledger and a traditional ledger is that while the latter is centralized and managed by a single entity, the former is decentralized, and maintained across numerous nodes or computers.

50. Compare Blockchain with a relational database.

When comparing Blockchain with a relational database, Blockchain is decentralized and immutable, ensuring data integrity and security. In contrast, a relational database is centralized, structured, and can be easily modified by those with access.

51. Explain how a block is recognized in the Blockchain approach.

A block is recognized by its unique digital signature in the Blockchain approach, known as a hash, which distinguishes it from all other blocks in the chain.

52. Is possible to modify the ledger once it is written edger?

Once data is written in a block on the blockchain, it becomes immutable. This means it cannot be altered without changing the information in all subsequent blocks, making unauthorized modifications easily detectable.

53. What are the recommended network specifications

Network-specific conditions include understanding the required infrastructure for the adoption of Blockchain technology within an organization, ensuring network security, and having consensus mechanisms in place.

54. Explain the term "blocks" in Blockchain technology

Blockchain technology utilizes "blocks" to store transaction records in sets of digital information, which are subsequently linked together in a sequential manner

55. What does 51 % attack mean?

A 51% Attack occurs when a single miner or mining pool possesses more than half of the computational power in a network, giving them the ability to double-spend coins or disrupt transactions.

56. What are the types of records that can be stored in Blockchain and is there r there are any limitations.?

Blockchain can securely store various types of data, including financial transactions, ownership of assets, and movements within the supply chain. Before recording any information, it is essential to verify its accuracy because of the unchangeable nature of blockchain technology.

57. Is possible to remove blocks from Blockchain?

Once a block has been added to the blockchain, it becomes extremely challenging to remove or modify due to the presence of its own hash, the hash of the previous block, and distribution across multiple nodes in the network. The hash acts as a unique digital fingerprint that ensures the security and integrity of each block. Any attempt to alter subsequent blocks would demand an immense amount of computational power and would be promptly identified by the network.

58. Can a ledger be corrupted?

The blockchain is recognized as an unalterable record due to its utilization of decentralized consensus mechanisms for transaction validation, rendering any tampering with recorded data nearly impossible to go undetected. Through cryptographic principles and network consensus, data stored on the blockchain is guaranteed to remain unaltered and verifiable.

59. In which order blocks are linked in the blockchain.

The blocks are connected sequentially, with each block containing the hash of the preceding block, forming a chain from the first block to the latest one. This consecutive hashing guarantees the security of the entire history of the blockchain.

60. What are the prerequisites or requirements for implementing Blockchain technology?

Implementing blockchain technology requires a consensus mechanism for transaction validation, a network of computers as nodes, cryptographic algorithms for transaction security, and a protocol for block creation and transaction validation. These components collaborate to establish the essential infrastructure for blockchain to function securely and efficiently.

61. Define a blockchain identifier

Block identifiers serve to differentiate blocks within a blockchain by combining a block header hash and block height. The hash, generated by a hash function, uniquely represents the block's content, while the height indicates its position in the blockchain. This system guarantees each block is distinctly identified due to the near impossibility of two blocks sharing the same hash.

62. What is the common type of ledger?

Various types of ledgers available in blockchain are public, private, and consortium ledgers. Public ledgers are open to everyone, ensuring transparency in transactions. Private ledgers limit access to a particular group of users, commonly within an organization. Consortium ledgers are a combination, enabling multiple organizations to collaborate and share access to the ledger.

64. What is the common type of ledger?

63. Different types of ledgers available in blockchain are public, private, and consortium ledgers. Public ledgers are open to everyone, ensuring transparency in transactions. Private ledgers limit access to a particular group of users, commonly within an organization. Consortium ledgers are a combination, enabling multiple organizations to collaborate and share access to the ledger.

65. What is differentiate between a blockchain ledger and an ordinary ledger

The blockchain ledger stands out from a regular ledger by being decentralized and spread out across a computer network, ensuring no single entity has control over it. Each participant in the network possesses a complete copy of the ledger, unlike a centralized ordinary ledger. Additionally, the blockchain ledger utilizes cryptography for transaction security and mandates consensus among network participants, a feature absent in a traditional ledger.

66. What is the correlation between the Concept of double spending and blockchain

The term "double spending" pertains to the possibility of a digital currency being used for two separate transactions. To prevent double spending, blockchain systems employ consensus mechanisms to validate each transaction and guarantee that each unit of currency is only used once. Once a transaction is confirmed, it is recorded in a block and added to the chain, making it unchangeable and safeguarding against double-spending.

67. What is the significance of a blind signature and its utility?

A blind signature involves disguising the content of a message before signing, making it a type of digital signature. In the context of blockchain, it is valuable for maintaining privacy among participants by enabling transactions to be signed without disclosing their details to the signer. This feature is particularly beneficial for voting systems and digital cash schemes integrated into blockchain platforms.

68. Define an off-chain transaction

An off-chain transaction is a transaction that occurs outside the blockchain network but is later reconciled with the blockchain ledger. It allows for increased privacy and reduced transaction fees and times, as it avoids the computational cost of recording every transaction on the blockchain. It requires a trusted third party to mediate these transactions, which introduces some level of counterparty risk.

69. What are the predominant threats that could hit transaction records?

Safeguarding transaction records involves protecting against various threats such as hacking, phishing, and cyber-attacks targeting digital assets and data integrity. Moreover, the danger of 51% attacks, in which an entity seizes control of the majority of a network's hashing power, poses a substantial risk to blockchain integrity

70. List a few of to used consensus algorithms

Proof-of-Work (Pow), Proof-of-Stake (PoS), Delegated Proof-of-Stake (DPoS), and Practical Byzantine Fault Tolerance (PBFT). These algorithms are used to agree on the validity of transactions and the creation of new blocks in the blockchain.

71. Explain the differences  between Proof of stake – PoS and Proof-of work Pow

Proof-Of-Stake (PoS) and Proof-Of-Work (Pow) represent distinct blockchain consensus mechanisms. Pow involves miners solving intricate mathematical problems to verify transactions and generate new blocks, utilizing substantial computational power and energy. On the other hand, PoS selects validators according to the number of coins they possess and are ready to "stake" as collateral, resulting in a more energy-efficient process compare

72. What a public key is?

A public key is a type of cryptographic key that is made available to the public and is utilized for encrypting data or authenticating a digital signature. It acts as a destination for receiving cryptocurrency from others and is crucial for confirming the authenticity of transactions signed by the corresponding private key.

73. What is a private key?

The private key is a confidential cryptographic key held by the owner, utilized for decrypting data encrypted with the matching public key or generating a digital signature. It grants access to cryptocurrencies and is crucial for validating transactions on the network.

74. What are the main disadvantages?

Blockchain technology is hindered by scalability problems, high energy consumption with certain consensus algorithms such as Proof-of-Work, and the risk of security vulnerabilities if not implemented correctly. Additionally, regulatory uncertainties and a lack of widespread understanding and adoption can impede its practical application.

75. What are Merkle Trees in blockchain?

Blockchain technology has drawbacks such as scalability issues, high energy consumption for certain consensus algorithms like Proof-of-Work, and the potential for security vulnerabilities if not properly implemented. Additionally, regulatory uncertainties and the lack of widespread understanding and adoption can hinder its practical application.

76. What are the Merkel trees’ in Blockchain

Merkle Trees within blockchain serves to bolster the verification of data integrity. These trees arrange transactions into a hierarchical structure, with each leaf containing a hash of an individual transaction, and the root containing a single hash that summarizes all transactions.

77. What are steps recommended to address issues about scalability

Enhancing blockchain scalability can be achieved by implementing layer-two solutions such as Lightning Network, increasing block sizes, and utilizing off-chain transactions. These methods enable quicker transaction processing and handling larger volumes without sacrificing security or decentralization.

78. Explain permissioned blockchains and their use cases.

Restricted access is enforced on permissioned blockchains, limiting network entry to specific users. These blockchains are utilized in scenarios such as supply chain oversight, identity authentication, and internal auditing, necessitating control over users' activities and ensuring a level of confidentiality is upheld, all while leveraging the unchangeable nature of blockchain technology.

79. What is a hard fork?

A hard fork in the blockchain is a change to the network protocol that is not backward compatible. An example is the split of Bitcoin and Bitcoin Cash in 2017, where disagreements on block size led to the creation of a new one.

80. Define Tokenization

The process of tokenization within blockchain technology entails transforming physical assets into digital tokens. This can be applied to various scenarios, such as digitizing real estate properties or generating virtual assets for gaming purposes, facilitating more efficient, quicker, and safer transactions across the blockchain network.

81. What is the role of algorithms?

Consensus mechanisms are essential in blockchain technology as they guarantee unanimous agreement among all users regarding transaction validity, thus preventing fraudulent activities like double-spending. These algorithms maintain the integrity of the blockchain network without relying on a central governing body.

82. How does shrading influence scalability

Shrading is a process that partitions a blockchain into smaller pieces, or shards, each capable of processing transactions independently. shrading improves scalability by allowing the blockchain to process many transactions in parallel.

83. What are oracles in smart contracts and why are they important

Smart contracts utilize oracles as intermediaries connecting blockchains with external data sources, essential for executing contracts dependent on real-world information by supplying the required data for contract completion.

84. What is DeFi and its significance?/

DeFi, or decentralized finance, represents financial services constructed on blockchain technology without central intermediaries. DeFi enables peer-to-peer lending, borrowing, and trading, significantly expanding the availability of financial services.

85. What is DeFi and its significance

DeFi, or decentralized finance, represents financial services constructed on blockchain technology without central intermediaries. DeFi enables peer-to-peer lending, borrowing, and trading, significantly expanding the availability of financial services.

86. How privacy concerns are addressed?

Blockchain addresses privacy concerns by utilizing methods such as zero-knowledge proofs and private transactions. These mechanisms enable the verification of transactions without disclosing sensitive information to the entire network, thus ensuring privacy and security for users.

87. What are NFTs, and where are they used?

Non-fungible tokens (NFTs) are distinct digital tokens that signify ownership or verification of authenticity. They find application in digital art, collectibles, and intellectual property, where unique identification and proof of ownership are crucial.

88. What are side chains?

Sidechains within the blockchain ecosystem are independent blockchains linked to a main blockchain, facilitating the exchange of assets between the main chain and the sidechain. This integration enhances the capabilities of the network and improves its scalability

89. What's cross-chain interoperability in blockchain?

Blockchain cross-chain interoperability refers to the capacity of various blockchains to communicate and engage with one another, allowing for the transfer of information and assets across different blockchain networks. This fosters a more interconnected and efficient blockchain ecosystem.

90. Explain blockchain consensus algorithms and compare PoW, PoS, and DPoS.

Consensus algorithms on blockchains guarantee that all network users concur on the legitimacy of transactions. Proof of labor (PoW) is an energy-intensive method that needs computational labor to validate transactions and generate new blocks. Proof of Stake (PoS) minimizes energy usage by choosing validators based on the amount of the linked coin they own. This is streamlined by Delegated Proof of Stake (DPoS), which increases transaction speeds and efficiency by letting coin holders vote on a few delegate nodes to protect the network.

91. Explain blockchain consensus algorithms and compare PoW, PoS, and DPoS.

Consensus algorithms on blockchains guarantee that all network users concur on the legitimacy of transactions. Proof of labor (PoW) is an energy-intensive method that needs computational labor to validate transactions and generate new blocks. Proof of Stake (PoS) minimizes energy usage by choosing validators based on the amount of the linked coin they own. This is streamlined by Delegated Proof of Stake (DPoS), which increases transaction speeds and efficiency by letting coin holders vote on a few delegate nodes to protect the network.

92. Explain interoperability

Interoperability between blockchain systems refers to the capacity to exchange data between them. Blockchains that would otherwise be isolated from one another may connect with one another thanks to interoperability tools like Polkadot and Cosmos, which facilitate the exchange of information and value between various networks.

93. Explain layer 2 scaling and its benefits

Protocols that run on top of a blockchain (Layer 1) to increase scalability and efficiency are known as Layer 2 scaling solutions. Lower costs and quicker transaction times are two advantages. Examples of off-chain transaction handling systems are Ethereum's Plasma and Bitcoin's Lightning Network

94. What is zero-knowledge proofs and their blockchain applications.?

Zero-knowledge proofs allow one party to demonstrate to another that a claim is true without disclosing any further information beyond the claim's veracity. They are employed in blockchain to improve security and privacy by enabling transaction verification without revealing the contents of the transaction.

95. What are the decentralization challenges?

Blockchain networks have decentralization concerns related to consensus-building, scalability, and security. Developing off-chain scaling techniques to manage rising transaction volumes, implementing new consensus methods, and streamlining network protocols are all part of the answers.

96. What are the decentralized identity (DID) solutions and their impact?

Decentralized identity systems provide consumers with an option to manage their login credentials and personal data. DID systems provide people control over their identities, lowering dependency on centralized authority and lowering the possibility of identity theft, all of which have a good impact on privacy and security?

97. What is a cross-chain swap?

With cross-chain atomic swaps, cryptocurrency may be swapped across various blockchains without the use of middlemen. To secure a trustless exchange procedure, cross-chain atomic swaps rely on smart contracts to make sure the transaction either completes or is canceled.

98. Explain the difference between Layer 1 and Layer 2 scaling solutions?

Layer 1 scaling options, such as modifications to the protocol or consensus process, enhance a blockchain's fundamental components. To increase performance without changing the core blockchain architecture, layer 2 solutions are constructed on top of the current blockchain.

99. List some of the challenges in data storage and retrieval?

Blockchain data storage and retrieval are hampered by its limited capacity, effectiveness, and speed. Sidechains, off-chain storage, and other scalability enhancements that make it possible to manage bigger volumes of data more efficiently are examples of solutions.

100. What is the concept of decentralized autonomous organizations (DAOs) and governance challenges?

Decentralized autonomous organizations (DAOs) are a notion where automated organizational administration is made possible by governance encoded in smart contracts. Ensuring fair voting procedures and decision-making that serves the interests of all stakeholders are among the governance difficulties.

101. What is the concept of decentralized autonomous organizations (DAOs) and governance challenges?

Decentralized autonomous organizations (DAOs) are a notion where automated organizational administration is made possible by governance encoded in smart contracts. Ensuring fair voting procedures and decision-making that serves the interests of all stakeholders are among the governance difficulties.

102. What is the concept of decentralized autonomous organizations (DAOs) and governance challenges?

Decentralized autonomous organizations (DAOs) are a notion where automated organizational administration is made possible by governance encoded in smart contracts. Ensuring fair voting procedures and decision-making that serves the interests of all stakeholders are among the governance difficulties.

103. How reliable are Explain blockchain oracles?

Third-party services known as blockchain oracles provide smart contracts access to outside data. As long as the data source is dependable and the oracle has a strong mechanism in place to guarantee the integrity of the data it provides, blockchain oracles are considered reliable.

104. What are privacy-focused blockchain technologies?

Blockchain privacy solutions such as Zcash and Monero provide further anonymity by hiding transaction information. Increased user privacy, transaction amounts, and party identities are protected, among other advantages.

105. Explain energy efficiency, sustainability

Particularly with PoW systems, blockchain's sustainability and energy efficiency are major challenges. Using renewable energy sources, switching to less energy-intensive consensus techniques like proof-of-work (PoS), and creating more effective blockchain protocols are among the solutions.

106. What are the token standards?

Token standards provide a standardized set of guidelines that tokens on a blockchain must abide by. Examples of these standards include ERC-20 for fungible tokens and ERC-721 for non-fungible tokens (NFTs). They have a variety of unique applications, such as virtual products, digital currencies, and asset representations.

107. Managing user experience complexity brought on by blockchain technology's technicality is one of the UX/UI design problems in blockchain DApps. Operating on a blockchain network, DApps (decentralized apps) have special design challenges including guaranteeing transaction transparency, handling longer load times because of block confirmation procedures, and incorporating user control over private keys without sacrificing usability

108. Blockchain improves security, efficiency, and traceability in supply chain management. Applications in the real world include immutable paperwork for quicker customs clearance, provenance tracking, which offers a transparent picture of product lifecycles, and counterfeit avoidance through secure records.

109. Enlist regulatory, and legal challenges

The absence of unified standards and changing laws are the main legal and regulatory issues facing blockchain. Blockchain interacts with rules on currency control, international transactions, and data protection, necessitating ongoing company adaption to adhere to various legal frameworks throughout the globe.

110. What does the term cross-border remittances mean?

Blockchain-based cross-border remittances make international money transactions quicker, less expensive, and more transparent. Blockchain technology offers a safe, unchangeable record of cross-border money transfers and does away with the need for middlemen, cutting transaction costs and times.

111. What is a blinding signature, explain its importance?

A digital signature known as a "blind signature" is one in which a message's contents are concealed before signing. Blind signatures are important because they improve transaction privacy by enabling anonymity while guaranteeing the transaction is safe and authentic

112. What is secret shrading and its role in enhancing security?

By dividing a secret, such as a private key, into pieces that are distributed among participants and needing a subset's consensus to reconstruct the entire secret, secret sharing in blockchain technology improves security. Since no one person possesses the whole key, this strategy guards against the loss or theft of a single key.

113. What is secret shrading and its role in enhancing security?

By dividing a secret, such as a private key, into pieces that are distributed among participants and needing a subset's consensus to reconstruct the entire secret, secret sharing in blockchain technology improves security. Since no one person possesses the whole key, this strategy guards against the loss or theft of a single key.

114 . What is Executive Accounting and its compatibility with Blockchain.?

Because blockchain is visible and unchangeable, it can simplify the painstaking documenting of financial transactions, which is known as executive accounting. The benefits of integrating blockchain technology with executive accounting include real-time ledger updates and a lower chance of fraud or human mistakes.

115. What is secret shrading and its role in enhancing security?

By dividing a secret, such as a private key, into pieces that are distributed among participants and needing a subset's consensus to reconstruct the entire secret, secret sharing in blockchain technology improves security. Since no one person possesses the whole key, this strategy guards against the loss or theft of a single key.

116. What is Executive Accounting and its compatibility with Blockchain.?

Because blockchain is visible and unchangeable, it can simplify the painstaking documenting of financial transactions, which is known as executive accounting. The benefits of integrating blockchain technology with executive accounting include real-time ledger updates and a lower chance of fraud or human mistake.

117.How to differentiate Centralized Network, Decentralized Network, and Distributed Ledger

A Distributed Ledger is a database that is voluntarily shared and synchronized across several sites, whereas a Centralised Network depends on a single point of control. A Decentralised Network distributes control among peers. Every member of the network has access to the whole database and its transaction history in a distributed ledger

118. Describe the essentials of the Blockchain ecosystem?

The essential elements of the Blockchain Ecosystem include the ledger, which records transactions; the network of nodes, which maintains and validates the ledger; cryptographic algorithms, which secure transactions; and consensus mechanisms, which ensure agreement on ledger states.

119. Describe the essentials of the Blockchain ecosystem?

The essential elements of the Blockchain Ecosystem include the ledger, which records transactions; the network of nodes, which maintains and validates the ledger; cryptographic algorithms, which secure transactions; and consensus mechanisms, which ensure agreement on ledger states.

120. What is the significance? of hashtag

In the context of Blockchain, hashing is the process of transforming input data into an original, unique, fixed-length alphanumeric string. Blockchain technology relies heavily on hashing to protect data integrity and make it possible to link blocks together.

121. What are prominent cryptocurrencies that are available?

Hashing, as used in the context of Blockchain, is the process of converting input data into a unique, original string of alphanumeric characters with a defined length. Hashing plays a major role in blockchain technology by safeguarding data integrity and enabling block linking.

130. Explain the durability and robustness

The term "Blockchain Durability and Robustness" describes the technology's ability to hold up over time without deteriorating. Robustness pertains to the resilience of blockchain against cyberattacks and technological malfunctions, whereas durability guarantees the long-term documentation of data blocks.

131. List a few prominent consensus algorithms

A few well-known consensus algorithms include Practical Byzantine Fault Tolerance (PBFT), Delegated Proof of Stake (DPoS), Proof of Work (PoW), and Proof of Stake (PoS). These algorithms are techniques for getting dispersed processes or systems to agree on a common data value.

132. What is the difference between proof of work and proof of stake?

A few well-known consensus algorithms include Practical Byzantine Fault Tolerance (PBFT), Delegated Proof of Stake (DPoS), Proof of Work (PoW), and Proof of Stake (PoS). These algorithms are techniques for getting dispersed processes or systems to agree on a common data value.

133. What is a consensus algorithm?

A mechanism employed in a blockchain network to reach consensus across dispersed processes or systems on a single data value is referred to as a consensus algorithm. Blockchain technology relies on consensus algorithms to keep all nodes synchronized and in agreement with the ledger's current state. One such is Proof of Work (PoW), which necessitates intricate computations from nodes to verify transactions and generate new blocks.

133. How is Bitcoin used in a  Blockchain?

Blockchain is a decentralized ledger used by Bitcoin that keeps track of every transaction made via a network of computers. The integrity and chronological sequence of transactions are guaranteed by the way each block in the Bitcoin blockchain is connected to the one before it via a cryptographic hash.

134. What is the security mechanism?

Cryptography is used in Blockchain to ensure a block's security. Every block has a distinct hash, and any changes made to the block's contents would cause the hash to change and indicate an attempted breach. A chain that protects the whole network is created when the hash of one block is included in the next.

135. Describe the process of encoding

The practice of encrypting a message or piece of information so that only persons with the proper authorization may access it is known as encryption in the blockchain. Since encryption makes sure that data is only accessible to those who have the right decryption keys, it is essential to preserve the confidentiality and privacy of transactions on the blockchain.

136. What are the limitations of Blockchain?

Yes, Blockchain technology's drawbacks include scalability problems, high energy requirements for some consensus techniques, such as Proof of Work, and a lack of regulation that may encourage its usage for illegal purposes. The technological obstacles to integrating blockchain with current systems are substantial.

138. Explain in short, cryptocurrency with examples

Cryptocurrency is a kind of virtual or digital money that is secured by encryption. Unlike centralized digital currencies, it employs decentralized control and is run independently of a central bank. Cryptocurrencies like Ethereum, Ripple, and Bitcoin are examples.

140. What is a fork and what are its types?

The term "fork" in blockchain jargon describes a break between two distinct chains or a divergence in the protocol. There are two types of forks: soft forks, which are modifications that are compatible with the original chain and do not require it to be continued, and hard forks, which do

141. What is the purpose of modification in Solidity?

Function modifiers in Solidity are used to alter a function's behavior within a contract. They can do an automated condition check before the function is executed. Function modifiers include "view," which indicates that the function does not change the state of the contract, "private," which limits access to the contract itself, and "public," which makes functions available to everybody.

142. What is transparency and in-corruptibility?

In the context of blockchain technology, transparency, and incorruptibility relate to the ledger's open visibility, which records every transaction, and its resistance to unauthorized data tampering. Data on the blockchain is almost hard to manipulate since once it is recorded there, it cannot be removed without affecting all following blocks and obtaining network consensus

[livvyofthelake]

i have to complain about a tiktok sound because well it’s making me mad anyway the gist of the sound is that it’s putting part of henry’s silly little monologue from the queen charlotte esque scene next to a line he says in bottoms and the joke is supposed to be like haha aren’t these two performances sooo different. but the way the sound is being used is now like. people will describe something they think is good and then something they think is like stupid. like “books i tell people i like vs the fact i like reading fanfiction more” or some shit idk i just made that up but that’s how it’s being used. and like. why are we equating that man’s kind of badly acted dramatic monologue with something “good” and then a silly line from a COMEDY where he plays a MINOR role with something “bad”. why does red white royal blue get to be good but the lesbian incel comedy is bad. answer quickly.

[jbfly46]

Me and like 3 other people took control of the internet by understanding how algorithms work and being able to read the consensus of a geographical region. We had a lot of help of course. The instructions are laid out online parsed in code.

[gaygerwig]

listening to chapo trap house (lol) and omg that’s felix’s voice? this is the guy who’s run lefty politics for like the years 6 years and my twitter feed for the past month*??? dork voice over here?

[squishymamasboy]

Every now and then I'm being reminded that tumblr doesn't 100 % belong to "demonic communists" and it baffles me every time

[elizeshiro]

'sorry its the way of the world' god that comment pisses me off so much lmao-

for years I've been a pretty big tech enthusiast, always fascinated with the world of AI and AI learning but holy shit, draw the line somewhere. of course an AI can do better than what a human does in mere seconds, it's a fucking *AI-* that's not the point, and it never has been — it sure seems like a whole load of hypocrisy with all the talk of AI stealing normal jobs in recent years, but just because of that you can't just.... fucking discredit real artists??? they spend years cultivating their skill in art to create a style that's pleasing to them and just get hit with the good ol' 'sorry this do b the way of the world'???

look, i don't care if you enjoy AI art. i know there's a big spiel about it being glorified art theft (which it is) but i'm going to leave it aside for this post for now to focus on this aspect of AI art, which is discrediting human artists. why the fuck should a person, a real, FUCKING PERSON, who's spent *years* of hard work practicing and learning change their art style just because it looks 'AI Generated'?

sorry jimbo, that family recipe your family has passed down for 10 decades tastes like this factory made one that just launched last week! better change it up or you're going outta business!

i don't- i don't post much on this hellsite since 99% of my blog's contents are just rbs with no additions like comments or tags but holy shit this pisses me off so much. i love and am fascinated by AI, and that may never change, but enough is enough.

monkeys on a typewriter creating macbeth will never match up to the works of shakespeare.

No because theres already a case of an actual artist being accused of doing AI art because their art is "familiar to the AI art style."

Theres already people who have gotten the AI to learn correct hand anatomy (albeit a bit wonky, but it's 5 fingers on two hands now.).

Literally what the fuck. This is the scariest shit. People now are teasing it to "hold objects" and "do complicated hand gestures" . My partner you and I both know in months time they will. This fucking sucks. It feels like theres no hope to stop this shit anymore aside from clients and art customers to FUCKING STOP AND LOOK CLOSER AT THE ART.

Like, please if you are commissioning from an artist, ask for like a psd. Or a .clip file. You cant even ask for a "sketch" because theres already programs able to simulate art progress, sketch to render. What the everloving tit shit.

[mohrewkey]

What Consensus Algorithm Does Ethereum Use?

Ethereum is a decentralized blockchain platform that enables developers to build and deploy decentralized applications (dApps). Ethereum’s consensus algorithm, also known as the mining algorithm, is called Ethash. In this article, we will explore how Ethash works, its advantages and limitations, and how it differs from other consensus algorithms. What is Ethash? Ethash is a proof-of-work (PoW)…

[rugessnome]

...i found both someone complaining about how The Eyre Affair isn't like... a self-insert romance+some other stuff about it, and someone complaining (justly in my view) about that complaint in the Jasper Fforde tag the other day and now it's made me think about first or second person narration and how i don't generally interpret them in a self-insert way...

Anyway! vaguely related to self-insert but ...related to a mature fic... anecdote in the tags...

[mostlysignssomeportents]

Privacy first

The internet is embroiled in a vicious polycrisis: child safety, surveillance, discrimination, disinformation, polarization, monopoly, journalism collapse – not only have we failed to agree on what to do about these, there's not even a consensus that all of these are problems.

But in a new whitepaper, my EFF colleagues Corynne McSherry, Mario Trujillo, Cindy Cohn and Thorin Klosowski advance an exciting proposal that slices cleanly through this Gordian knot, which they call "Privacy First":

https://www.eff.org/wp/privacy-first-better-way-address-online-harms

Here's the "Privacy First" pitch: whatever is going on with all of the problems of the internet, all of these problems are made worse by commercial surveillance.

Worried your kid is being made miserable through targeted ads? No surveillance, no targeting.

Worried your uncle was turned into a Qanon by targeted disinformation? No surveillance, no targeting. Worried that racialized people are being targeted for discriminatory hiring or lending by algorithms? No surveillance, no targeting.

Worried that nation-state actors are exploiting surveillance data to attack elections, politicians, or civil servants? No surveillance, no surveillance data.

Worried that AI is being trained on your personal data? No surveillance, no training data.

Worried that the news is being killed by monopolists who exploit the advantage conferred by surveillance ads to cream 51% off every ad-dollar? No surveillance, no surveillance ads.

Worried that social media giants maintain their monopolies by filling up commercial moats with surveillance data? No surveillance, no surveillance moat.

The fact that commercial surveillance hurts so many groups of people in so many ways is terrible, of course, but it's also an amazing opportunity. Thus far, the individual constituencies for, say, saving the news or protecting kids have not been sufficient to change the way these big platforms work. But when you add up all the groups whose most urgent cause would be significantly improved by comprehensive federal privacy law, vigorously enforced, you get an unstoppable coalition.

America is decades behind on privacy. The last really big, broadly applicable privacy law we passed was a law banning video-store clerks from leaking your porn-rental habits to the press (Congress was worried about their own rental histories after a Supreme Court nominee's movie habits were published in the Washington City Paper):

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Video_Privacy_Protection_Act

In the decades since, we've gotten laws that poke around the edges of privacy, like HIPAA (for health) and COPPA (data on under-13s). Both laws are riddled with loopholes and neither is vigorously enforced:

https://pluralistic.net/2023/04/09/how-to-make-a-child-safe-tiktok/

Privacy First starts with the idea of passing a fit-for-purpose, 21st century privacy law with real enforcement teeth (a private right of action, which lets contingency lawyers sue on your behalf for a share of the winnings):

https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2022/07/americans-deserve-more-current-american-data-privacy-protection-act

Here's what should be in that law:

A ban on surveillance advertising:

https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2022/03/ban-online-behavioral-advertising

Data minimization: a prohibition on collecting or processing your data beyond what is strictly necessary to deliver the service you're seeking.

Strong opt-in: None of the consent theater click-throughs we suffer through today. If you don't give informed, voluntary, specific opt-in consent, the service can't collect your data. Ignoring a cookie click-through is not consent, so you can just bypass popups and know you won't be spied on.

No preemption. The commercial surveillance industry hates strong state privacy laws like the Illinois biometrics law, and they are hoping that a federal law will pre-empt all those state laws. Federal privacy law should be the floor on privacy nationwide – not the ceiling:

https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2022/07/federal-preemption-state-privacy-law-hurts-everyone

No arbitration. Your right to sue for violations of your privacy shouldn't be waivable in a clickthrough agreement:

https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2022/04/stop-forced-arbitration-data-privacy-legislation

No "pay for privacy." Privacy is not a luxury good. Everyone deserves privacy, and the people who can least afford to buy private alternatives are most vulnerable to privacy abuses:

https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2020/10/why-getting-paid-your-data-bad-deal

No tricks. Getting "consent" with confusing UIs and tiny fine print doesn't count:

https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2019/02/designing-welcome-mats-invite-user-privacy-0

A Privacy First approach doesn't merely help all the people harmed by surveillance, it also prevents the collateral damage that today's leading proposals create. For example, laws requiring services to force their users to prove their age ("to protect the kids") are a privacy nightmare. They're also unconstitutional and keep getting struck down.

A better way to improve the kid safety of the internet is to ban surveillance. A surveillance ban doesn't have the foreseeable abuses of a law like KOSA (the Kids Online Safety Act), like bans on information about trans healthcare, medication abortions, or banned books:

https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2023/05/kids-online-safety-act-still-huge-danger-our-rights-online

When it comes to the news, banning surveillance advertising would pave the way for a shift to contextual ads (ads based on what you're looking at, not who you are). That switch would change the balance of power between news organizations and tech platforms – no media company will ever know as much about their readers as Google or Facebook do, but no tech company will ever know as much about a news outlet's content as the publisher does:

https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2023/05/save-news-we-must-ban-surveillance-advertising

This is a much better approach than the profit-sharing arrangements that are being trialed in Australia, Canada and France (these are sometimes called "News Bargaining Codes" or "Link Taxes"). Funding the news by guaranteeing it a share of Big Tech's profits makes the news into partisans for that profit – not the Big Tech watchdogs we need them to be. When Torstar, Canada's largest news publisher, struck a profit-sharing deal with Google, they killed their longrunning, excellent investigative "Defanging Big Tech" series.

A privacy law would also protect access to healthcare, especially in the post-Roe era, when Big Tech surveillance data is being used to target people who visit abortion clinics or secure medication abortions. It would end the practice of employers forcing workers to wear health-monitoring gadget. This is characterized as a "voluntary" way to get a "discount" on health insurance – but in practice, it's a way of punishing workers who refuse to let their bosses know about their sleep, fertility, and movements.

A privacy law would protect marginalized people from all kinds of digital discrimination, from unfair hiring to unfair lending to unfair renting. The commercial surveillance industry shovels endless quantities of our personal information into the furnaces that fuel these practices. A privacy law shuts off the fuel supply:

https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2023/04/digital-privacy-legislation-civil-rights-legislation

There are plenty of ways that AI will make our lives worse, but copyright won't fix it. For issues of labor exploitation (especially by creative workers), the answer lies in labor law:

https://pluralistic.net/2023/10/01/how-the-writers-guild-sunk-ais-ship/

And for many of AI's other harms, a muscular privacy law would starve AI of some of its most potentially toxic training data:

https://www.businessinsider.com/tech-updated-terms-to-use-customer-data-to-train-ai-2023-9

Meanwhile, if you're worried about foreign governments targeting Americans – officials, military, or just plain folks – a privacy law would cut off one of their most prolific and damaging source of information. All those lawmakers trying to ban Tiktok because it's a surveillance tool? What about banning surveillance, instead?

Monopolies and surveillance go together like peanut butter and chocolate. Some of the biggest tech empires were built on mountains of nonconsensually harvested private data – and they use that data to defend their monopolies. Legal privacy guarantees are a necessary precursor to data portability and interoperability:

https://www.eff.org/wp/interoperability-and-privacy

Once we are guaranteed a right to privacy, lawmakers and regulators can order tech giants to tear down their walled gardens, rather than relying on tech companies to (selectively) defend our privacy:

https://pluralistic.net/2022/11/14/luxury-surveillance/#liar-liar

The point here isn't that privacy fixes all the internet's woes. The policy is "privacy first," not "just privacy." When it comes to making a new, good internet, there's plenty of room for labor law, civil rights legislation, antitrust, and other legal regimes. But privacy has the biggest constituency, gets us the most bang for the buck, and has the fewest harmful side-effects. It's a policy we can all agree on, even if we don't agree on much else. It's a coalition in potentia that would be unstoppable in reality. Privacy first! Then – everything else!

If you'd like an essay-formatted version of this post to read or share, here's a link to it on pluralistic.net, my surveillance-free, ad-free, tracker-free blog:

https://pluralistic.net/2023/12/06/privacy-first/#but-not-just-privacy

Image: Cryteria (modified) https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:HAL9000.svg

CC BY 3.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/deed.en

[yeah-yeah-beebiss-1]

Big fucking L for thinking AI art is real art

the “real art” discourse just echoes the weird reactionary sentiment that anything that’s vaguely abstract isn’t Real Art, “art” is subjective enough that it can come from myriad sources including using AI

sure, you could argue that a machine has no artistic intent, but that raises the question of whether you can derive artistic enjoyment from, say, the work of an elephant given a paintbrush, or the natural beauty of a sunset

there’s a ton of things to be concerned about with the current situation around AI being used to output illustrations - the non-consensual use of existing artwork to train algorithms, the potential for businesses to use it as a way to avoid giving work to existing artists, the fucking obnoxious techbro culture that surrounds AI in general right now - but to argue that what is ultimately an inanimate tool “isn’t Real Art” is no better than some 15-year-old redditor looking at an abstract piece and going off about it “just being colors and lines”

[astronomodome]

Astronomodome's 2024 US Presidential Election Liveblog

First of all I want to say I have other stuff to work on today so I might not be super up to date with stuff but I'll try my best to give my thoughts as to what's going on.

So first, how do we tell who wins?

In the U.S., the popular vote doesn't decide who wins the presidency. Instead, we use the (much hated) electoral college. Here's a helpful visual.

Every state (and DC) is given at least three electors, usually more based on population (which is why states like California and Texas have so many). There are 538 in total. To win, a candidate needs more than half of these- half of 538 is 269, so a candidate needs at least 270. (Interestingly, it is possible for both candidates to receive exactly 269 electors, in which case the universe corrupts and we all die infinitely the House of Representative chooses who wins, with each state getting one vote.)

The national popular vote may not matter, but the popular votes of each of the states do. Whoever wins the popular vote in each state (except Nebraska and Maine bc they're weird but that's not too important) wins all the electors for that state. It's very all-or-nothing which is why a lot of people don't like it.

This is a map from election forecaster 538, one of many such organizations that use polling and algorithms and election magic or something to predict who is likely to win each state. They have a lot of good graphs and stuff to look at on their site if you want to learn more about the stats of everything. As the key notes, we can see which way each state is expected to vote, as well as a few states highlighted in bold as likely swing states.

Swing states are basically wherever the election is close and the number of electors is high enough to 'swing' the election. Basically, while all the other states are mostly decided based on precedent (though surprises are possible), these states could reasonably go either way. This is why both candidates hold so many rallies in Pennsylvania, for example- it's competitive, and they want to boost their chances of winning those electors by currying favor directly with those voters.

One thing this map doesn't show is what I lovingly refer to as the Bar. It looks like this. I bring it up because if you follow the election news you'll see it. A lot.

The arrows in the middle point to 269.5, the exact midpoint. Whoever reaches that midpoint by filling up the bar wins (the beige in the middle are the tossup states who could go either way).

For example, let's look at 270towin. (the forecast websites love their special numbers.) They have a fun interactive map where you can make the votes go wherever you want to see what would happen.

^ Here's their prediction based on consensus.

^ Here, I changed Florida so it votes blue. Not likely unless I can bribe enough officials to make it so my ballot is the only one that counts (fair and just). We can see that the Bar has shifted, and the blue side has almost reached the arrows. Let's see what happens if we add another blue state. Let's say... Georgia, for example.

Wow! If the states were to vote this way, the Democrats would win, even if all the other undecided states went red. Is it likely? No. But, well, how do we know that?

In short, we don't. But we can guess, and that's what polls are for. There are several different types, but the most important ones for right now are exit polls. They'll start coming out soon, I think. I'm not sure if they have to wait until all the polls close (so people don't see them and decide not to vote or something because of it) but I think they do, at least in some states. Exit polls are conducted right outside of voting locations as voters exit, which makes them more accurate than other polls. They're not free of bias, though, so as always take them with a grain of salt. They're the first indicator we'll have of how it went, but they're not the final numbers.

One ray of hope I want to point out is the currently infamous Selzer Iowa poll (not an exit poll but still relevant). Ann Selzer is a really trusted pollster, known for a long streak of accuracy. She published a poll a day ago that indicated that Harris was beating Trump (!) in Iowa (!!) by 3 points (!!!). Iowa is... not considered a Democratic state; it went for Trump last election by 14 points. So this is really surprising (understatement). And yes, it could mean absolutely nothing... but it certainly shocked a lot of people, including Trump, who tweeted angrily about it.

States count their votes in different ways. Some results will be out within the day, others might take weeks. But usually most states can be 'called' for a candidate before every vote is counted. This is because the leading candidate will have more votes than can be overcome by the other one, even if every vote counted was for them. The important thing is that, as polls close over the next couple hours, they'll be counting. I saw one report that said election officials in Idaho, for example, plan on counting every vote "before they go to bed that night," which I thought was kind of a cute way to put it. Most states will release vote counts in batches or by county, which means that other batches or counties might still be counting as others submit their counts. That last sentence had a lot of 'count' related words in it, huh.

One thing to note about vote counting is that absentee or mail-in ballots often take longer to be received and counted than in-person votes. This can cause a phenomenon called "blue shift"- basically, a lot of mail-in ballots are cast by college students (like me!) or people who live overseas, and those groups tend to vote more Democratic than in-person voters. That means that late in the counting process, totals will often shift more towards the Democratic candidate. Famously, this is how Biden ended up winning Georgia in 2020- initially it was forecasted to remain red, but it inched over slowly as mail-in ballots were received.

So, in short, that's how we figure out who will be president. I'll be keeping track of what happens tonight, but it's very possible we won't know who wins until tomorrow morning or even later. Let's hope for the best :)

[gothhabiba]

On the one hand, people who take a hardline stance on “AI art is not art” are clearly saying something naïve and indefensible (as though any process cannot be used to make art? as though artistry cannot still be involved in the set-up of the parameters and the choice of data set and the framing of the result? as though “AI” means any one thing? you’re going to have a real hard time with process music, poetry cut-up methods, &c.).

But all of this (as well as takes that what's really needed is a crackdown on IP) are a distraction from a vital issue—namely that this is technology used to create and sort enormous databases of images, and the uses to which this technology is put in a police state are obvious: it's used in service of surveillance, incarceration, criminalisation, and the furthering of violence against criminalised people.

Of course we've long known that datasets are not "neutral" and that racist data will provide racist outcomes, and we've long known that the problem goes beyond the datasets (even carefully vetting datasets does not necessarily control for social factors). With regards to "predictive policing," this suggests that criminalisation of supposed leftist "radicals" and racialised people (and the concepts creating these two groups overlap significantly; [link 1], [link 2]) is not a problem, but intentional—a process is built so that it always finds people "suspicious" or "guilty," but because it is based on an "algorithm" or "machine learning" or so-called "AI" (processes that people tend to understand murkily, if at all), they can be presented as innocent and neutral. These are things that have been brought up repeatedly with regards to "automatic" processes and things that trawl the web to produce large datasets in the recent past (e.g. facial recognition technology), so their almost complete absence from the discourse wrt "AI art" confuses me.

Abeba Birhane's thread here, summarizing this paper (h/t @thingsthatmakeyouacey) explains how the LAION-400M dataset was sourced/created, how it is filtered, and how images are retrieved from it (for this reason it's a good beginner explanation of what large-scale datasets and large neural networks are 'doing'). She goes into how racist, misogynistic, and sexually violent content is returned (and racist mis-categorisations are made) as a result of every one of those processes. She also brings up issues of privacy, how individuals' data is stored in datasets (even after the individual deletes it from where it was originally posted), and how it may be stored associated with metadata which the poster did not intend to make public. This paper (h/t thingsthatmakeyouacey [link]) looks at the ImageNet-ILSVRC-2012 dataset to discuss "the landscape of harm and threats both the society at large and individuals face due to uncritical and ill-considered dataset curation practices" including the inclusion of non-consensual pornography in the dataset.

Of course (again) this is nothing that hasn't already been happening with large social media websites or with "big data" (Birhane notes that "On the one hand LAION-400M has opened a door that allows us to get a glimpse into the world of large scale datasets; these kinds of datasets remain hidden inside BigTech corps"). And there's no un-creating the technology behind this—resistance will have to be directed towards demolishing the police / carceral / imperial state as a whole. But all criticism of "AI" art can't be dismissed as always revolving around an anti-intellectual lack of knowledge of art history or else a reactionary desire to strengthen IP law (as though that would ever benefit small creators at the expense of large corporations...).

[probablyasocialecologist]

Calls for a ‘return’ to a non-existent past are seductive precisely because it did not exist. In an increasingly hostile world, it is tempting to believe that things were easier before the onset of a nebulous ‘modernity’. These individuals hint that if we simply traded in social changes, such as gender equality, we would be rewarded with more acceptable material conditions. However, such ideas are born more out of a yearning for an imagined idea of the Fordist consensus and that such conditions must project backwards into the pre-modern world. Such yearnings are compounded by the fact that the history that most people are taught is rudimentary and often provides an unproblematised version of our countries’ past. These narratives help to shore up the power of our own governments and obfuscate the very real benefits that we still enjoy as a result of imperial plunder. Trad accounts, meanwhile, are encouraged by the very platforms they appear on. It is common for them to present themselves as ‘tutors’ or accounts promoting ‘classical’ art, architecture or philosophy. The unsuspecting see a picture of a lovely old church, click follow and then are slowly drip-fed pseudo-history. They are also introduced, algorithmically, to the host of other trad accounts, which will feed them the same ahistorical pablum, establishing a consensus that is blissfully free from fact and heavy on nostalgia. Even those, such as myself, who seek to argue against these falsehoods fall prey to the algorithmic churn. Engaging with bad faith actors is still engaging and it can spread the message further, allowing reactionaries to find others in their cohort. This all translates into money for the platforms, which thrive off engagement – positive or negative.

[mohrewkey]

What Are Decentralized Consensus Algorithms?

Decentralized consensus algorithms are a crucial part of blockchain technology, which is a distributed ledger system that allows for secure, transparent, and tamper-proof transactions. These algorithms are responsible for ensuring that all participants in the network agree on the current state of the ledger, without the need for a central authority or intermediary. Here, we will explore the…

[dirtybg3confessions]

Confession: No but I think it's so interesting how Astarion is seem by the fandom. Maybe it's different here or in other places (and I really hope it is) but at least on tiktok (where the algorithm is way most insane than here and there way more vanillas) people think Astarion is some kind of Christian Grey Dominant God Of Sex and like maybe ascended Astarion ? But regular ass spawn Astarion is the way he is bc he thinks that's the only way it's done since his cazador days. That being said, I think he'd benefit from some eventual tying up and cock stepping (consensually, of course)

[monologuerhead]

Radiohead public library

The idea of the archive is a romantic one: in the age of information technology who can resist the pull of a centralized archive? Not any who has ever followed a trail of hyperlinks through the channels and nooks of Wikipedia. I find myself pulled into the romance of the archive drawn by the hint of knowledge that is just out of reach. The archive is just one way to make sense of the themes that have dominated the 20th century onwards*; cycles of repression, isolation, and capital make themselves clear almost immediately with any sort of sifting into the history of information technology (which is tied inextricably to the history of the archive), but in ways that are difficult to categorize and quantify.

This interest lead me to look into the radiohead public library. In its thoroughness (and their rare willingness to include an archive of their own websites, in the memory hole!) I have been pleasantly surprised to find a reflection of the original memex proposed by Vannevar Bush in his 1945 essay “As We May Think”, a labyrinth of articles linked by the paths of those who have read them before, and open to further linkages as the reader proceeds on. The memex could be seen as the prototype for any website stitched together by hyperlinks, a la wikipedia or the encyclopedia britannica, or more obscurely certain sections of the museum of jurassic technology’s website, and it is through the memex’s associative potential that a nonlinear (even networked) model of the world can be studied for its array of information, displayed for casual consideration, or even used to hypnotize the pursuant into a fictionalized version of events (for example, I still have yet to figure out how close to consensus reality the history of the museum of jurassic tech that is featured on its website. Clicking through the site itself is a trippy experience).

The mind fills the gaps between dream imagery with narrative and the cuts between movie scenes with implication— could the same be true for the spaces between hyperlinks, or even the silence between one tiktok video and the next? What is the meaning that links one thing to another? The Dewey Decimal System incorporates within its classification incredible bias against marginalized groups (thankfully, bias that is, albeit slowly, being addressed) simply in the way that information in the form of published books is sorted into one group or another. Through this sorting information of a slippery kind is introduced into the unwary unconscious. A connection between ‘x marginalized group’ and ‘abnormal psychology’ (DDC 301(dot)4157), has been made in the mind of the pursuant irrationally, and without any supported evidence, anecdotes, or even necessarily logic.

This is an important distinction between these hyperlinked archives and the Borgesian ‘total archive’ introduced in the short story The Library of Babel. The Library of Babel simply presents information at its rawest and most indigestible- disregarding all meaning, all truth, and all direction, the pages of its books contain more or less entire nonsense unless one is willing to use the website to find a specific hex that will repeat to you the phrase that you have asked for. Sure, it contains the summation of all human knowledge (within the english alphabet), but only at infinitesimal odds does one stumble upon meaning within its halls. It is perhaps better (or at least more sensical) if the map is smaller than the territory.

I wonder if in the present day the algorithm is at odds with the old system of hyperlinks. The algorithm approaches with a seemingly benign offer of information and media— arranged on a plate you hardly have to make the connections yourself. It’s far more coherent than the Babelian library, but its system of organization is just as dense and nonsensical (at least to the user, I have no idea what’s going on in the back end. Ping pong tables and swanky apartments in Brooklyn?). The threat within the algorithm is that the connections themselves are unstable and irrational, based and reinforced on the patterns that people already move within, but also directing their movement towards undemocratically controllable goals (I was about to simply say uncontrollable goals, but I realized that yes, there are people behind the algorithm directing it to hit certain metrics of responses or views or emotions or whatever). Being irrational, they’re difficult to rationalize, understand, and either follow further, outside of any given algorithm, or deprogram from the pursuant themself. I’m reminded of Burrough’s cut-up technique that he uses for The Soft Machine and the kind of magical terrorism that he inflicts upon his least favorite cafe. Information will resolve into meaning and meaning will condense into (re)action whether consciously or unconsciously. Even the space within paragraphs, even sentences, requires a willingness to find associative potential.

And so here I am back to my romantic archive, (let’s pretend wikipedia) where I can pretend to see within the spaces between a kind of orderly, genteel meaning, where I the pursuant can follow my own heart down the isles, tracing my own steps in a trail of purple hyperlinks. Or if I’m in the depths of the past twenty-five years of archived radiohead websites, I can find a surreal landscape where I can only partially direct my path through lyrics and images both familiar and unfamiliar; things that pertain to the year that the site was archived and things that did not reappear until much, much later (burn the witch). Still, despite all its surrealism, meaning surfaces like the white whale, and the ship goes down with its hunt.

Anyway, I wrote this all on a whim. I like to pretend to be 45 years old. I like radiohead.

*I’d be very open to extending this date further back but unfortunately I haven’t found a whole lot of material that goes further than that— or maybe I’m just not that interested in anything much older