Okay, not the stars, but the planets. Mars, at least, it’s the closest one. I was thinking out loud on twitter about how to handle bitcoin when we become a multiplanetary species.
I just realised that bitcoin doesn’t work when we become a multiplanetary species. Takes too long to sync. Mars is relatively close half the time of the year.
Closest possible approach: 182 seconds, or 3.03 minutes
Closest recorded approach: 187 seconds, or 3.11 minutes
Farthest approach: 1,342 seconds, or 22.4 minutes
On average: 751 seconds, or just over 12.5 minutes
We might either change the protocol to deliver slower blocks,
Which would suck for us. Or simply use a relay at a shorter distance, resting at a Lagrange point. Others are too far away. Titan is far out. Light from the Sun takes about 80 minutes to reach Titan; because of the distance. So that means Titan and faraway colonies would need their own bitcoin chain to run. A theoretical technology is entangled particles for faster than light communication, but nobody knows if it’s possible or even practical. The small blocks might be a blessing for that. We’ll cross that Einstein-Rosen bridge when we get to it.
Someone pointed out to me these series of articles on the subject, great resource. https://unchained-capital.com/blog/law-of-hash-horizons/
I’ll think about it further, might end up in my novel.
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