Consensus at Scale
What could be the purpose of achieving consensus at the scale of 86 billion neurons?
Resolution of Uncertainty about the Network State seems plausible. Because information enters continuously and permission-lessly, this might in fact be the necessity. If each node can trust every other node, then the neurons can dynamically adjust their states of consensus. Whereas information is secured through Proof-of-Work mining on the Ethereum blockchain, a Proof-of-Stake like mechanism more accurately characterizes the brain’s internal consensus algorithm. Each neuron has “skin in the game” and is therefore “staking” its Neurotransmitters to securely encode and transmit information via hierarchical message passing (illustration). This enables ensembles of neuronal groups to synchronize their frequencies with each other.
Such synchronized frequencies can be detected through Electroencephalography (EEG) from the surface of the brain, the cortex.
Brainwave Neuro-Signatures: The Proof-of-Work
Brainwaves, or neural oscillations, correlate with important nervous system functions. In some ways, they are neuro-signatures – a Proof-of-Work – of real world tasks, because every mental state corresponds to a definable range of EEG patterns.
Alpha Waves
When our eyes are closed during a relaxed state, 8-12 Hz oscillations can be recorded via electroencephalography (EEG) in the posterior cranium over the occipital lobe where the visual cortex lies.
Greater alpha power is also observed during mindfulness meditation.
Gamma Waves
Whereas Alpha waves are recorded with our eyes closed, Gamma waves in the range of 25-140 Hz are captured over the visual cortex during an alert waking state. These oscillations correlate with a variety of cognitive phenomena such as Attention, Working Memory, and conscious perception of reality.
Sleep Stage Oscillations
The different stages of sleep have been identified as a result of these oscillations. Each sleep stage has a distinct neuro-signature:
We can compare this process to Chainlink oracles that report price feeds. Nodes on the ChainLink network transact and use the LINK token for verifying price feeds throughout the DeFi landscape and across multiple blockchains.
Similarly, the neurotransmitter transactions secondary to neuronal activity results in unique brain wave neuro-signature "price feeds" that can be detected through EEG.
Layer 2
BOLD
The Blood-Oxygen-Level-Dependent (BOLD) hemodynamic response is a phenomenon that was discovered with the advent of functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) technology in the 1990s. Firing neurons are metabolically active, and because the brain does not store glucose for energy, it has to be delivered through the blood. Blood flow lags neural activity by about 5 seconds because electricity travels much faster than fluids.
This second order BOLD activity in the brain can be loosely compared to Layer 2 activity on Ethereum. E.g. L2 protocols like Loopring (LRC) offer greater transaction throughput at cheaper costs, while this activity is ultimately settled through zero-knowledge proofs on Ethereum Layer 1 mainnet.
Functional Networks
When BOLD responses are plotted along time series, patterns of synchronous activation emerge across brain regions.
Though these brain regions are often connected anatomically, this is not always the case. Similar to neuronal groups firing in synchrony on Layer 1, brain regions (designated according to Brodmann areas) co-activate on Layer 2 as detected by fMRI BOLD analyses. These activation patterns are characterized by statistical dependency – Correlation.
They are functional because their activity sub-serves important cognitive operations. Learn more about brain networks here.
Emergent Properties
In the GIF above, several things are happening:
During non-rapid eye movement (NREM) sleep, EEG detects neural slow waves oscillating at around 0.05 Hz. Delta waves in the range of 0.05 – 4 Hz range are observed in stage 3 NREM sleep.
The subsequent transient cooldown in neuronal activity is followed by decreased blood flow (BOLD; red) within the brain, globally across most regions.
Simultaneously, increased cerebrospinal fluid (CSF; blue) from the ventricles flows into the brain to clear away toxins like amyloid plaques that contribute to Alzheimer’s disease.
This newly discovered neurophysiological mechanism highlights much needed insights into the mysteries of Sleep.
Will similar emergent properties develop on Ethereum?
Given the pace of innovation in the Web3 stack, the answer is a resounding Yes.
At the apex of this stack lies the decentralized governance layer.
This is all facilitated by a system design optimizing for game theory, information theory, statistics, economics, fluid dynamics, and really just physics - because these are properties emergent of self-organization and spontaneous order.
This foreshadows the untapped potential of Consensus at Scale.
"DeFi and NFTs are just the snow on the tip of the iceberg."
-Sergey Nazarov
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