I was thinking about it, especially in regard with this
1 topic, that most of the bitcoin network's security comes from the decentralized nature of the network. If the centralization/decentralization is the most important facet of our network, and the whole network is public, couldn't/shouldn't we calculate a
rough index?
I'm no programmer or mathematician, but I know how to google, and I couldn't find such a thing. If we know the global hashrate, and we know how each and every block is awarded, isn't this possible? If all the blocks are awarded to the same peer on the network, you have a decentralization index of 0. If all the blocks are awarded equally to each and every peer of the network, you have a decentralization index of 1. This is assuming block reward distribution = relative hashing power. Call it the CDI or DCI, if you will.
I'm aware that it's a little more complicated than that, especially considering that a botnet master can distribute the blocks awarded to him across endless seemingly unrelated peers, while mining pools are supposedly supported by many unrelated peers however the hashing power of the entire pool is ultimately controlled by a single entity. This is why I'm calling it a "rough" index.
So, like I said, I'm just thinking aloud, but let me know what you think.
1https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=140588.0