What Decentralization mean to Me - A Long Essay (1074 Words)

uyobong (71)in OCD • 5 years ago

One of the greatest quotes relating to governance are the words of the great historian and politician, Sir John Dalberg-Acton who said that "Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely..." Agreeably, every man needs power as Maslow postulated. When power vested on an individual is not checked, there are tendencies of overuse or underuse. Many atimes, this check is often considered as making the man-in-power to lose control.

The truth is that people were not to be controlled because everyone has some level of pride. The true object of pride was meant to be on events and circumstances. Being able to control events therefore craves concern which in turn leads to better events. Having more people to control an event therefore creates room for more favourable impressions. This is what decentralization seeks to achieve.

We would then be right if we say that decentralized systems are the quintessential patrons of simplicity. This is because the shared control of events by the people involved in the system helps to reduce the complexities if just one person was to handle the control processes. This peace is to look at the subject of 'decentralization" as a core of blockchain governance.

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The simplistic representation of decentralization by @sadekj about two years ago is epic. The position of each user in the web does not matter, everyone has a way to connect and share resources through to each other and that is done with less effort.

I must sincerely appreciate @Theycallmedan for initiating this thoughtful theme. You can head-on to this post. In this piece, emphasis shall be placed on the following:

The fundamental building blocks of blockchain;
The link between blockchain and decentralization;
My personal views on decentralization as it bothers blockchain governance.

What is a Blockchain?

I love Mayank Pratap's simplicity in explaining blockchain technology as "a data structure that holds transactional records and while ensuring security, transparency, and decentralization" (emphasis added).

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A blockchain is a distributed ledger that is completely open to any and everyone on the network. Once an information is stored on a blockchain, it is extremely difficult to change or alter it because no single authority controls the records generated on a blockchain.

Each transaction on a blockchain is secured with a digital signature that proves its authenticity. Due to the use of encryption and digital signatures, the data stored on the blockchain is tamper-proof and cannot be changed. (source)
In this article a clear summary and detail explanation of the operations of a blockchain is offered in a language of a layman. Important facts about a blockchain are detailed as follows:

1. A Blockchain is a type of diary or spreadsheet containing information about transactions.
2. Each transaction generates a hash.
3. A hash is a string of numbers and letters.
4. Transactions are entered in the order in which they occurred. Order is very important.
5. The hash depends not only on the transaction but the previous transaction's hash.
6. Even a small change in a transaction creates a completely new hash.
7. The nodes check to make sure a transaction has not been changed by inspecting the hash.
8. If a transaction is approved by a majority of the nodes then it is written into a block.
9. Each block refers to the previous block and together make the Blockchain.
10. A Blockchain is effective as it is spread over many computers, each of which have a copy of the Blockchain.
11. These computers are called nodes.
12. The Blockchain updates itself every 10 minutes.

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Decentralization as the Core of Blockchain Technology

Decentralization or decentralisation' is the process of redistributing or dispersing functions, powers, people or things away from a central location or authority. Concepts of decentralization have been applied to group dynamics and management science in private businesses and organisations, political science, law and public administration, economics, and technology. (source)

The tenet of blockchain technology has always been to allow all the network participants to reach an agreement, commonly known as consensus. This is because all the network participants are privy to all the data stored on the blockchain which is recorded digitally and has a common history. This is effective in reducing the chances of any fraudulent activity or duplication of transactions and this is done without the need of a third-party as applicable in conventional banking transactions.

Aside from the security of your funds, truly decentralized applications which are built on decentralized blockchains give complete anonymity and privacy. This means additional information about the user is not be collected if an application claims to be truly decentralized. Collecting any data on users (as simple as a name and an email) negates the level of data integrity a Dapp should have.

Data integrity has recently been at the forefront in political and technological movements, most famously when Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg had two congressional hearings regarding the news that political consulting group Cambridge Analytica had collected personal information on over 87 million users on Facebook’s platform. Such cannot happen within the sphere of a decentralized blockchain.

My Perspective on Decentralization as it bothers Blockchain Governance

Centralization means absolute control while decentralization means freedom. I see a decentralized platform as that which seeks allow every network participant the freedom of expression, decision and choice. We are all grown ups, as such should not be told how to stand, sit and do the rest of things that bother us.

I see a decentralised platform as that which every user either decides what to do or not and bears full responsibility of his decisions and actions. I joined the steem blockchain because of its stand on decentralization and as such would want to live as a free man who is not instructed on what to do.

Decentralization is the essence of true organic communities. By this i mean a community where resources available is shared by all and no intruder comes in to take the people hostage.

By decentralization, one is sure that his investments are not swept by the decision of another but everyone either profits or loses dependent on his values, knowledge and preferences.

The above are my stands on decentralization and would always be.