Protocol for computation checking in P2P networks - draft

algorithm_consensus.md

@@ -0,0 +1,35 @@
+## Protocol for computation checking in P2P networks
+
+A protocol for checking if peers in a p2p network are performing valid
+computations of a well known algorithm.
+
+### Context
+
+In a P2P network, each peer compute an input `I` against a well known algorithm
+`F(x)` and distributes the output `O` to the network peers. A peer may also
+request other nodes for computing the algorithm against a set of inputs and
+expects that the output received are valid. A set of received outputs 
+`[O1, ..., On]` is valid if the they are correct outputs of a set of inputs 
+`[I1, ..., In]`, which is the same as saying that the following holds true for
+every pair `{In, On}`:
+
+Given a function `F(x)`, the output `Ox` is valid for `Ix` iff:
+
+```
+F(In) = On
+```
+
+### Problem
+
+In a completely decentralized network in which different peers request and serve
+computation without any mechanism of trust, how can a requester peer - who asks
+for a certain input to be ran against the algorithm - trust that the output is
+correct without having to run it itself?
+
+There is no trivial way for the requester to confirm if the output is valid
+without running it locally and compare the received output with its own result, 
+which defeats the purpose of request external computation.
+
+
+## Protocol for computation checking in P2P networks
+### Applications