Subject: Re: [bitcoin-dev] Proposal: Force to do nothing for first 9 minutes to save 90% of mining energy

From: ZmnSCPxj <[email-masked]>
Date: Tue, 18 May 2021 08:04:56 +0000

Good morning Michael,

> Am 17.05.2021 um 04:58 schrieb Luke Dashjr:
>
> > It increases security, and is unavoidable anyway.
> > You can't.
>
> There must be a way. dRNG + universal clock + cryptographical magic?!

Proof-of-work **is** the cryptographic magic that creates a universal clock.

In physics, the Arrow of Time is defined as the direction in which entropy increases.

Suppose you were shown a video of a particle in a low-gravity environment hitting a wall and bouncing away.
This video can be played forwards or backwards, and you would not be able to determine whether it is played forwards or backwards.

In short, in many physical interactions, there is ***no*** notion of a direction in time, i.e. no past or future.
Nearly every physical interaction, at the small scale, is reversible, thus there is no (apparent) inherent direction of time.

However, suppose you were instead shown a video where a group of ceramic shards on a floor comes together to form a vase, which then rises off the floor and then floats onto a table.
Obviously, this is a video played backwards.
A group of shards on the floor is a higher-entropy state than a vase on a table, thus it is obvious what the Arrow of Time here *actually* is.

Or suppose you were shown this video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zePA3uIbB5I
Obviously, this is a video played backwards (except for the introduction, of course --- pay attention how there is a scene cut from the introduction to the main part of the video).
A Rubik cube that is in a disordered state is a higher-entropy state than a Rubik cube that is in an ordered state where each side has a specific single color, thus it is obvious that the Mythbusters did not actually do any work and just ran a time-reversed video of them disordering a newly-opened Rubik cube.

All of our clocks are ultimately derived from the *measurable* increase of entropy:

* The current definition of 1 second is measured in terms of the decay of [Caesium atoms](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Isotopes_of_caesium#Caesium-133).
  This decay represents the reduction of energy of the atoms and thus an increase in universal entropy.
* Wind-up clockwork watches are powered by the controlled release of the energy stored in a spring, a consumption of stored energy and thus an increase in universal entropy.
* Wind-up clockwork watches are powered by the controlled release of the energy stored in a spring, a consumption of stored energy and thus an increase in universal entropy.

Now, a low-entropy state is simply one where energy is available for consumption.
And as we know, proof-of-work requires energy consumption.

Thus, the existence of a proof-of-work is a proof that time has passed.
If time did not pass, then it would not have been possible to create the proof-of-work, because it would not be possible to consume energy (i.e. increase universal entropy) and thus create an Arrow of Time.

>From this proof-of-time-passing, we can then build a universal clock, one that is deeply tied to the physical world, due to the energy consumption.
It is by this method that Bitcoin is anchored to reality.

There is already a universal clock available using cryptographic magic.
It is called proof-of-work.

Regards,
ZmnSCPxj