[Chapter-delegates] Blockchain and Food Tracability

Tue Oct 2 02:06:04 PDT 2018

Aren't "responsible for blockchain governance" and "proof-of-work"
diametral opposites?
With PoW, the goal is that nobody can exert control on the contents of
the blockchain [1]. To me, this implies that there is no governing body
who can "fix things" if they are broken.
If governance is priority, then you should not use a PoW-based
blockchain, but a controlled ("permissioned") blockchain or a non-
blockchain technology (yes, there still are).
-Marcel
[1] With the exception of a reasonable majority of the software
developers agreeing on a change, or disagreeing to create a fork.
On Tue, 2018-10-02 at 09:32 +0100, Christian de Larrinaga wrote:
> This note from Sia is an interesting first hand snapshot of the sort
> ofchallenges being faced by those responsible for blockchain
> governance inthe "real world".
> David Vorick I've found to be a thoughtful exponent of blockchain
> usage.The Sia project is one of a small portfolio of interesting and
> wellconsidered decentralised and distributed file storage services I
> havebeen assessing / lurking for several years.
> https://blog.sia.tech/sia-proof-of-work-reset-24b5ec439625
> It's a good example of how underlying technology changes are
> forcingdirect interventions to keep a blockchain  governed within
> desiredparameters and how contentious and political such
> interventions are.
> 
> Christian
> Christian de Larrinaga wrote:
> Johan I agree.
> Even Satoshi's bitcoin white paper has a flavour of the
> economists'standard let out clause when describing their latest
> theory "all thingsbeing equal ... then .." about the ability of the
> math to enforce trustin bitcoin.
> The problem for bitcoinists is similar to economists. Technology and
> itsdistribution and governance that the math rests on never remains
> equal.At least bitcoin as a protocol for inserting data into a
> database is inert.
> Other blockchains such as Ethereum introduced programability (so
> calledturing complete languages) whose main characteristic is to
> escalate theprobability of technical uncertainties at multiple layers
> in theprotocols in influencing what gets inserted. Governance for
> suchenvironments is very tricky particularly where the protocol
> environmentmakes the assumption that it is mathematically flawless
> when it comes toits self governance. Show me a forkless self
> governing blockchainanybody. Even those that have raised $50m or more
> in speculative fundinghave suffered massive consequences from
> systemic flaws leaving theiroperators facing existential questions
> such as whether to intervene tocancel transactions deemed fraudulent
> but in so doing admit that theself governance of the protocol by the
> protocol is not dependable.
> Traceability is hugely important and not just for food. It depends
> onvery complex webs of trust, laws and enforcement and even cultural
> andeducational capacity.
> The consequences of getting this wrong are serious.
> Sympathy and shared outrage with the family of poor NatashaEdnan-
> Laperouse, 15,died on a flight to Nice after buying a sandwich atPret
> a Manger outlet at Heathrow Airport in 2016. The bread
> itselfcontained sesame seeds which were not labelled. In this
> instance thecoroner found that Pret a Manager depended on an
> exception to labellingintended for small outlets making their own
> food on the premisesallowing them to state ingredients orally rather
> than on packaging.
> report at https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-45679320
> This is an warning that data that is vital for life which is
> reliableand comprehensible end to end has to traverse many interests
> and domainswith differing needs and priorities.
> 
> Christian
> 
> 
> Johan Jörgensen wrote:
> Trust is always needed before we can secure through technology.
> Biodata plus identifier is probably where we’ll go. Trust plus an
> openand general identifier system plus blockchain is probably a
> goodstarting point. Blockchain on its own - as you point out John -
> is notenough.
> 
> lör 29 sep. 2018 kl. 01:12 skrev Niran Beharry <nbeharrytt at gmail.com<
> mailto:nbeharrytt at gmail.com>>:
>     There is a local system being deployed to do plant to bar (this
> is    for tracking cocoa pods to final product)    Niran
>     On Fri, Sep 28, 2018, 11:40 John Levine <
> isocmember at johnlevine.com    <mailto:isocmember at johnlevine.com>>
> wrote:
>         In
> article        <CAN7+85fyCw17jZX07Jn8Pi6DyU2Ai_u2sig1yEXKGqQcztxPVQ at m
> ail.gmail.com        <mailto:CAN7%2B85fyCw17jZX07Jn8Pi6DyU2Ai_u2sig1y
> EXKGqQcztxPVQ at mail.gmail.com>>        you write:        >-=-=-=-=
> -=-        >-=-=-=-=-=-        >        >
> http://theinstitute.ieee.org/resources/standards/how-blockchain-technology-could-track-and-trace-food-from-farm-to-fork
>         >        >This is very interesting since its  US law to trace
> food that is        >contaminated ie. E Coli etc  back to the actual
> farm
>         Tracing food is a dandy idea but this makes the usual
> blockchain        enthusiast error of assuming that if it's on the
> blockchain it        must be        true.  Tagging the food and
> accurately identifying what each        tag is        attached to is
> the hard part, not sticking the tag IDs in a        database.
>         All the tags in the world won't help if a sleazy packer can
> just        put a tag for a clean field on produce from a dirty
> field.
>         R's,        JOhn        _____________________________________
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