100 lines
4.5 KiB
Plaintext
100 lines
4.5 KiB
Plaintext
From fork-admin@xent.com Tue Oct 8 14:40:22 2002
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<0H3N006X7ZLZ03@mta6.snfc21.pbi.net> for fork@xent.com; Tue,
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08 Oct 2002 06:17:59 -0700 (PDT)
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From: Gregory Alan Bolcer <gbolcer@endeavors.com>
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Subject: Re: why is decentralization worth worrying about?
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To: Rohit Khare <khare@alumni.caltech.edu>
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Date: Tue, 08 Oct 2002 06:08:05 -0700
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Rohit Khare wrote:
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>
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> Why am I so passionate about decentralization? Because I believe some of
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> today?s most profound problems with networked applications are caused by
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> centralization.
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>
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> Generically, a centralized political or economic system permits only one
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> answer to a question, while decentralization permits many separate
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> agents to hold different opinions of the same matter. In the specific
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> context of software, centralized variables can only contain one valid
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> value at a time. That limits us to only representing information A)
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> according to the beliefs of a single agency, and B) that changes more
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> slowly than it takes to propagate. Nevertheless, centralization is the
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> basis for today?s most popular architectural style for developing
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> network applications: client-server interaction using request-response
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> communication protocols.
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I think the ability to maintain an inconsistent database
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is key to decentralization.
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Databases enforce consistenty with every transaction.
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Bounded transactions, like an ATM, enforce consistency
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by have some play with time and value
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Most people keep inconsistent data in their heads, it's
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called congnitive dissonance theory
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Most businesses keep inconsistent data, documents, tationale
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and ideas to support their work activities, it's called real life.
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I don't think it matters so much where it's located, i.e.
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decentralization. I think that decentralization is the workaround
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from technical limitations. The fallout being that the only way
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inconsistent information spaces can be maintained is by
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protecting them through a set of trust barriers and boundaries.
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The local information when combined with the technical
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troubles of providing "just enough" forced synchronization
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to remote information provide workable data consistenty, i.e.
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enforcing local constraints or ignoring global ones when
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concerns are more immedidate.
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Tolerating temporary, irreconcilable deviations is how
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people cope, otherwise you'd be like Nick Gatsby unnecessarily
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pre-occupied with a spot of shaving cream on McKee's neck
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who thinks that if he can just wipe that spot off that the
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whole world would be a little more perfect and everything,
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including his pre-occupation with Daisy, would consistently
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be in its proper place.
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Greg
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