Talk:Two Generals' Problem

Latest comment: 1 year ago by DavidCary in topic (Good) source for "first proved unsolvable"

Bitcoin / Blockchain edit

The following discussion is closed. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page. No further edits should be made to this discussion.


What about Bitcoin / Blockchain? --FML talk - me at pt 20:48, 23 March 2017 (UTC)Reply

Bitcoin and blockchains are not the magical bullet to solve all computer problem ShiberToast (talk) 17:20, 11 February 2020 (UTC)Reply

The discussion above is closed. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page. No further edits should be made to this discussion.

Diagram for section "Illustrating the Problem" edit

I believe a diagram would help better visualize the problem then just plain text ShiberToast (talk) 18:15, 12 February 2020 (UTC)Reply

Issue with "Proof by Symmetry" subsection in section "Proof" edit

Proof by symmetry assumed that the attacker can send fake messages, but in the problem, the attacker can merely intercept messages. Should the subsection be removed? ShiberToast (talk) 18:38, 12 February 2020 (UTC)Reply


(Good) source for "first proved unsolvable" edit

"The Two Generals' Problem was the first computer communication problem to be proved to be unsolvable" is a very strong but questionable statement. What about the various halting problems? Church, Turing, Godel, etc were working on unsolvable problems in the 1930s and 40s. Without an explanation and a great reference, I think we should drop that statement. --Drpixie (talk) 00:55, 2 May 2022 (UTC)Reply

agreed Titaan123 (talk) 08:29, 24 May 2022 (UTC)Reply
Yes, the halting problem was proved unsolvable long before the two generals' problem.
However, the halting problem is not a "communication problem".
I added a reference that says the closely-related, more complicated, Byzantine generals problem was "one of the first" computer communication problems proven to be unsolvable. It seems likely to me that two generals' problem was solved before that.
It would be nice if we found a reliable source that specifically named the first few computer communication problems proven to be unsolvable. (If it turns out that the two generals' problem wasn't proven until much later, what Wikipedia article would be best for mentioning that source?). --DavidCary (talk) 22:20, 31 August 2022 (UTC)Reply