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Re:My professional opinion as a blockchain researcher: I don... by LeonM on Monday February 12, 2018 @11:38AM (#16359767)
That is correct, but a non-distributed blockchain (i.e. something you use locally) sounds like a something that can also be solved by using a database or even your filesystem.

I'm not saying blockchains are bad technology, non-distributed blockchains can be a very good solution to certain problems, but it's not the "world changing" revolution many claim it to be.

Re:My professional opinion as a blockchain researcher: I don... by chillee on Monday February 12, 2018 @12:31PM (#16360216)
What? What would be the point of a non-distributed blockchain? Fundamentally, blockchains are a solution to the distributed consensus problem, where you're not guaranteed anything on the length of time it takes to communicate between two nodes. Also known as asynchronous consensus.

If you're local (or within a small network with bounded, you don't really need asynchronous consensus. Dolev-Strong or any number of other synchronous/semi-synchronous protocols would work fine.

Re:My professional opinion as a blockchain researcher: I don... by spurcell93 on Monday February 12, 2018 @01:06PM (#16360487)
I think LeonM's point WAS that it's unnecessary to qualify "blockchain" with distributed, because as you say, it would be relaively pointless otherwise.
Re:My professional opinion as a blockchain researcher: I don... by chillee on Tuesday February 13, 2018 @10:05AM (#16367619)
I was more remarking upon

> non-distributed blockchains can be a very good solution to certain problems