As shown in the figure above, in the previous three articles, we talked about the encryption system of the blockchain and the linked list structure of the blockchain, and had a preliminary understanding of the "physical structure" of the blockchain. However, you will be smart enough to think that hash algorithms and digital signatures are products of the early days of the Internet and are not unique to blockchains at all. Yes, if the blockchain were just hash pointers, then there would certainly not be so many companies flocking to it, let alone the prosperity of Bitcoin today. So, in the next few articles, we will talk about the core things of the blockchain: decentralization and consensus algorithms.
I reiterate here that the purpose of writing this series of articles is to popularize the blockchain, so that friends who want to know about the blockchain will have a simple understanding of the blockchain after reading these articles, rather than talking about many technical details of the blockchain. Therefore, at the technical level, I will use the most simple and easy-to-understand words to explain, and strive to make friends with and without technical foundations understandable.
Before talking about decentralization, let's talk about centralization first. We must first know the following three questions:
1. What is centralization?
2. What are the disadvantages of centralization?
3. How to solve the problem of centralization?
1. What is centralization.
Centralization: There is a central node in the system, and all nodes that want to participate in the system must contact the central node to work. Corresponding to it is decentralization. Decentralization means that all nodes in the system are connected to each other, and there is no central node.
Here are a few simple examples:
On the website: Centralization is the portal website, you can watch whatever the person who manages the website asks you to watch, and decentralization is the community, where everyone can publish their own opinions and articles.
In the live broadcast: Centralization is the newscaster of TV programs, everyone sees what he says, and decentralization is Kuaishou, Douyin, and everyone can become the anchor.
In Internet technology: Centralization is the use of a server (server group) to provide users with data (Youku), and decentralization is that users can share data or files with each other (Quick Broadcast)
In the field of finance: this is the point! Centralization is the unified issuance and regulation of currency by the central bank. Decentralization means that there is no central bank, and the currency is issued and regulated by itself, such as Bitcoin.
The above examples more intuitively illustrate the difference between centralization and decentralization. Let's take a look at the comparison between the two.
2. The disadvantages of centralization
In fact, as the current mainstream application form, centralization has obvious advantages, such as clear data, obvious levels, and intuitive transmission. The biggest advantage is that it is conducive to management and control. However, centralization still faces the following core problems.
a. The transmission efficiency is low, all information dissemination must be sent through the central node, and the communication between nodes also needs to be forwarded through the central node, which will inevitably lead to low transmission efficiency. For example, foreign transfers, etc.
b. The security risk of the central node, the security risks here include the central node stopping work, the central node being stolen, etc.
Supplement: Decentralization also has a problem - it is difficult to control.
3. How to solve the disadvantages of centralization, or how to achieve decentralization
Back to decentralization, how to achieve decentralization, in addition to the update of the model (such as community, Douyin, etc.), in fact, the predecessors have already explored and discovered at the technical level. P2P network (peer to peer) is a relatively mature result. Simply put, it is point-to-point information transmission: all information is notified to all nodes in the system by broadcasting, and all nodes make corresponding feedback. We will focus on this in the next issue.
To sum up: centralization and decentralization focus on ideas. In the next installment, we will talk about how decentralization is used in blockchain. In the end, what I want to say is that any model and technology are relative. Centralization has some drawbacks as above. It happens that decentralization can solve these problems, but it does not mean that decentralization is omnipotent. Decentralization has a very fatal The problem is that there is a lack of supervision. For example, Kuaizhuo (technology) and P2P lending (model), which are widely used in P2P, both have their own control problems. I hope readers can clarify this point.
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Join the "This is Blockchain" learning group:
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