If Blockchains are Gears, does a proveable gear train exist?

[jcrubino]

If we treat a blockchain like a gear, what solutions exist that can act as a gear train framework?

We talk about oracles but does such an oracle exist that can communicate or provide a message framework across multiple blockchains?

Looking for demonstratable examples.
I would think open transactions could fit this function, but I have not seen OT demonstrated like this action yet.

An alternative would be to write a messaging protocol that could be implemented across most standard blockchains... does this already exist?


Thanks for any insight on this.

[mikeymillie]

I like the idea of this analogy, but I don't think I can imagine the analogy between a blockchain and a gear.  By design, a gear is a piece of a larger system and does nothing at all by itself.  A blockchain is designed to be a complete system all by itself. 

But here we run into more analogy trouble immediately. 

What is a 'blockchain' in this analogy:  is it

• the file stored on disk containing transactions? 
• a single wallet node transacting with a network of other nodes? 
• the entire network of all nodes in the abstract sense? 
• is it the entire network of all nodes, PCs, network links between them?
• Or is it all of those things in the previous line *plus* the community of human users making rational decisions to run the nodes/miners, pay for the cooling, the connectivity, the power, and choosing to invest their time in it all?

[jcrubino]

The main idea behind the analogy was to get the scope (magnitude) of reference correct and imply that multiple blockchains can be used together, affecting one another.

While one block chain may win a majority of users I do not yet have a reason to believe that people will stop making un-pegged blockchains.

It would be nice to have a standard way to derive deterministic functionality based on states of external blockchains.