Your Attention, Please: Optimizing for Humans by John Feminella
Operators of large distributed systems often try to optimize for scarce computational resources — memory, network bandwidth, and CPU cycles. However, research shows that if we want to maximize the health of our systems, there’s another scarce resource we should be prioritizing instead: the attention of our users.
In this talk, I’ll show how we can use machine learning to improve how we present data and information and tell a story to our users, optimizing for their attention and holistic understanding, instead of overwhelming them with a barrage of low-level metrics. More intriguingly, we’ll see how this approach has produced massive improvements in several real-world systems at large Fortune 100 institutions. By the end of the talk, we’ll hopefully have convinced you that happier and more informed operators isn’t merely a good outcome, but rather is the most ethical thing to do if we don’t want to lead people astray.
1. blockchains and distributed apps
a detailed primer on the world’s most overhyped technology
by: John Feminella
at: Craft
in: Budapest, Hungary
on: May 10th, 2018
5. http://jxf.me · @jxxf
"A purely peer-to-peer version of electronic cash would allow
online payments to be sent directly from one party to another
without going through a financial institution. Digital signatures
provide part of the solution, but the main benefits are lost if a
trusted third party is still required to prevent double-spending.
We propose a solution to the double-spending problem using a peer-
to-peer network. The network timestamps transactions by hashing
them into an ongoing chain of hash-based proof-of-work, forming a
record that cannot be changed without redoing the proof-of-work.
The longest chain not only serves as proof of the sequence of
events witnessed, but proof that it came from the largest pool of
CPU power. As long as a majority of CPU power is controlled by
nodes that are not cooperating to attack the network, they'll
generate the longest chain and outpace attackers."
6. http://jxf.me · @jxxf
"A purely peer-to-peer version of electronic cash would allow
online payments to be sent directly from one party to another
without going through a financial institution. Digital signatures
provide part of the solution, but the main benefits are lost if a
trusted third party is still required to prevent double-spending.
We propose a solution to the double-spending problem using a peer-
to-peer network. The network timestamps transactions by hashing
them into an ongoing chain of hash-based proof-of-work, forming a
record that cannot be changed without redoing the proof-of-work.
The longest chain not only serves as proof of the sequence of
events witnessed, but proof that it came from the largest pool of
CPU power. As long as a majority of CPU power is controlled by
nodes that are not cooperating to attack the network, they'll
generate the longest chain and outpace attackers."
7. http://jxf.me · @jxxf
"A purely peer-to-peer version of electronic cash would allow
online payments to be sent directly from one party to another
without going through a financial institution. Digital signatures
provide part of the solution, but the main benefits are lost if a
trusted third party is still required to prevent double-spending.
We propose a solution to the double-spending problem using a peer-
to-peer network. The network timestamps transactions by hashing
them into an ongoing chain of hash-based proof-of-work, forming a
record that cannot be changed without redoing the proof-of-work.
The longest chain not only serves as proof of the sequence of
events witnessed, but proof that it came from the largest pool of
CPU power. As long as a majority of CPU power is controlled by
nodes that are not cooperating to attack the network, they'll
generate the longest chain and outpace attackers."
8. http://jxf.me · @jxxf
"A purely peer-to-peer version of electronic cash would allow
online payments to be sent directly from one party to another
without going through a financial institution. Digital signatures
provide part of the solution, but the main benefits are lost if a
trusted third party is still required to prevent double-spending.
We propose a solution to the double-spending problem using a peer-
to-peer network. The network timestamps transactions by hashing
them into an ongoing chain of hash-based proof-of-work, forming a
record that cannot be changed without redoing the proof-of-work.
The longest chain not only serves as proof of the sequence of
events witnessed, but proof that it came from the largest pool of
CPU power. As long as a majority of CPU power is controlled by
nodes that are not cooperating to attack the network, they'll
generate the longest chain and outpace attackers."
9. http://jxf.me · @jxxf
"A purely peer-to-peer version of electronic cash would allow
online payments to be sent directly from one party to another
without going through a financial institution. Digital signatures
provide part of the solution, but the main benefits are lost if a
trusted third party is still required to prevent double-spending.
We propose a solution to the double-spending problem using a peer-
to-peer network. The network timestamps transactions by hashing
them into an ongoing chain of hash-based proof-of-work, forming a
record that cannot be changed without redoing the proof-of-work.
The longest chain not only serves as proof of the sequence of
events witnessed, but proof that it came from the largest pool of
CPU power. As long as a majority of CPU power is controlled by
nodes that are not cooperating to attack the network, they'll
generate the longest chain and outpace attackers."
10. http://jxf.me · @jxxf
"A purely peer-to-peer version of electronic cash would allow
online payments to be sent directly from one party to another
without going through a financial institution. Digital signatures
provide part of the solution, but the main benefits are lost if a
trusted third party is still required to prevent double-spending.
We propose a solution to the double-spending problem using a peer-
to-peer network. The network timestamps transactions by hashing
them into an ongoing chain of hash-based proof-of-work, forming a
record that cannot be changed without redoing the proof-of-work.
The longest chain not only serves as proof of the sequence of
events witnessed, but proof that it came from the largest pool of
CPU power. As long as a majority of CPU power is controlled by
nodes that are not cooperating to attack the network, they'll
generate the longest chain and outpace attackers."
64. http://jxf.me · @jxxf
"A purely peer-to-peer version of
electronic cash would allow online
payments to be sent directly from one
party to another without going through a
financial institution."
116. problem: can’t trust the ledger
forgery: actors can add lines that aren’t valid
erasure: actors can remove lines that are valid
http://jxf.me · @jxxf
117. how do we stop forgery?
http://jxf.me · @jxxf
165. http://jxf.me · @jxxf
protocol:
1. anyone can add valid lines
2. no overspending
3. must sign lines to be valid
4. lines have unique identifiers
5. distribute the ledger
168. http://jxf.me · @jxxf
2 Alice paid Dave 🔒30 1001⋯
2 Alice paid Carol 🔒30 0101⋯
LedgerB
double spending!
169. http://jxf.me · @jxxf
protocol:
1. anyone can add valid lines
2. no overspending
3. must sign lines to be valid
4. lines have unique identifiers
5. distribute the ledger (how?!)
225. takeaways
blockchain applications offer trustless, permissionless rules
cryptocurrency lets us trustlessly exchange value
many protocols have some serious problems
blockchains have enormous potential … if we get it right
http://jxf.me · @jxxf
226. takeaways
blockchain applications offer trustless, permissionless rules
cryptocurrency lets us trustlessly exchange value
many protocols have some serious problems
blockchains have enormous potential … if we get it right
http://jxf.me · @jxxf
227. takeaways
blockchain applications offer trustless, permissionless rules
cryptocurrency lets us trustlessly exchange value
many protocols have some serious problems
blockchains have enormous potential … if we get it right
http://jxf.me · @jxxf
228. takeaways
blockchain applications offer trustless, permissionless rules
cryptocurrency lets us trustlessly exchange value
many protocols have some serious problems
blockchains have enormous potential … if we get it right
http://jxf.me · @jxxf