Digital Immortality Through Bitcoin

[Paleus]

Fellow bitcoiners,

Imagine, in you will, a computer operating system located on the blockchain. Essentially, any person who holds a key could access this "operating system" anywhere in the world and it would have 100% uptime.

By using a full node a user can script data into the blockchain which, in combination with an interpreter, can then be used as a kernel program. The emulation of the software would be centralized, but the data itself (.iso image) would be embedded/timestamped into the blockchain. By using a full node to hash the .iso image, then an emulator to download and install it on a physical medium, it is possible to digitally immortalize using bitcoin technology.

Unlike something such as Ethereum, the blockchain does not "run" the program, it merely stores the .iso file in a distributed manner so that there is no single point of failure. As long as at least one full node exists, the .iso file can be used to regenerate the program from its seed. From the blockchain, we download the .iso image and write it to a physical medium (such as a CD or USB flash drive or any other device capable of interpreting binary information).

"An optical disc image (or ISO image, from the ISO 9660 file system used with CD-ROM media) is a disk image that contains everything that would be written to an optical disc, disk sector by disc sector, including the optical disc file system." - Fisher, Tim (24 April 2018). "What Is an ISO File?". Lifewire.

Different formats (such as CUE/BIN, CCD/IMG and MDS/MDF) could be used depending on the file and use case.

Bitcoin is not meant to be a processing layer, only distributed storage. Using the power of the private key to sign, we can hash data into the blockchain that is retrievable by a central interpreter.

[nutildah]

How big of a file size are you talking for your ISO? Could be quite a costly endeavor if its a large enough file.

I have heard of similar ideas in the past although they were never fully fleshed out. For one, Counterparty toyed with the idea of embedding Ethereum's smart contracting features but it was deemed to be a bit too impractical. I have also seen bits of programming language uploaded to the blockchain but no project has gotten so far as to actually read OS data directly from the blockchain, AFAIK. Would be interesting to see one actually at work.

[Vod]

Bitcoin is not meant to be a processing layer, only distributed storage.

There are much cheaper ways to encrypt and distribute storage than force all users to hold the data. Besides, Bitcoin is a processing layer - it uses massive amounts of energy to process the next block.   Elon said it in a stupid wierd way:

“That is why Bitcoin is based on energy: you can issue fake fiat currency, and every government in history has done so, but it is impossible to fake energy.”

[0x000369]

lol bro this idea of digital immortality through bitcoin got me for real tho its crazy to imagine storing an entire iso on the blockchain like wtf the size alone would probably cost more than my first car and yeah elon aint wrong bitcoin does use mad energy just to move blocks around but the idea of never losing your os forever is kinda wild and funny at the same time

im curious tho if anyone actually tried hashing some small iso or program just to see it live on chain like a ghost os would be epic to see 

[Vod]

lol bro this idea of digital immortality through bitcoin got me for real tho its crazy to imagine storing an entire iso on the blockchain like wtf the size alone would probably cost more than my first car and yeah elon aint wrong bitcoin does use mad energy just to move blocks around but the idea of never losing your os forever is kinda wild and funny at the same time

im curious tho if anyone actually tried hashing some small iso or program just to see it live on chain like a ghost os would be epic to see  

The blockchain can handle the data, but why bloat it with outdated code?   Since Windows 10 (the first major OS since blockchain invention), there have been tens of millions of lines of code changed.   (source: chatgpt).   And leaving unpatched code on the blockchain would become a hacker's paradise.

[Paleus]

Bitcoin is not meant to be a processing layer, only distributed storage.

There are much cheaper ways to encrypt and distribute storage than force all users to hold the data. Besides, Bitcoin is a processing layer - it uses massive amounts of energy to process the next block.   Elon said it in a stupid wierd way:

“That is why Bitcoin is based on energy: you can issue fake fiat currency, and every government in history has done so, but it is impossible to fake energy.”

Bitcoin is not a processing layer in the sense that there is no ability for Turing Completeness on the blockchain itself.

[ABCbits]

Can you give us ELI5 about your idea? From what i understand, why don't you just store the ISO file on distributed file system (such as BitTorrent or IPFS protocol) and then share the identifier (such as magnet link or hash) to other people?

[Vod]

I merit each time I learn something new.  ELI5 is something I will use a lot.  

Why don't you just store the ISO file on distributed file system (such as BitTorrent or IPFS protocol) and then share the identifier (such as magnet link or hash) to other people?

I think the OP wants a hardware device to able to connect to the blockchain and boot up without any other configuration.  Your suggestion would fail if the device did not have the software to locate, verify, download before booting up.

Edit:  I see where this idea is coming from:   https://www.zdnet.com/article/cloud-native-computing-is-poised-to-explode-thanks-to-ai-inference-work/

[Paleus]

Bitcoin is not meant to be a processing layer, only distributed storage.

There are much cheaper ways to encrypt and distribute storage than force all users to hold the data. Besides, Bitcoin is a processing layer - it uses massive amounts of energy to process the next block.   Elon said it in a stupid wierd way:

“That is why Bitcoin is based on energy: you can issue fake fiat currency, and every government in history has done so, but it is impossible to fake energy.”

The protocol is secure because every user carries a copy of the same file (the blockchain), and although not everyone might want to hold all the data, that is what users pay the miners for with transaction fees. Users know what they are getting into when they run a full node. The cost is storage, the benefit is independence from any third party.

The quote from Elon is interesting because of how, even in a world of fakery, the one thing that cannot be faked is work. And that is essentially what bitcoin is, a technique to prove work.