Decentralized Systems Engineering: Fault Tolerance & Consensus

This lecture covers the logistics of homework, projects, and exams, revisits Paxos and introduces Multi-Paxos and Threshold Logical Clocks. It delves into fault tolerance, Byzantine faults, and the Byzantine Generals Problem, emphasizing the importance of redundancy and fault-tolerant systems. The instructor discusses the challenges of network partitions and shares a Space Shuttle story to illustrate system failures. The lecture also explores logical clocks, BFT Consensus, permissionless consensus in Bitcoin, and blockchain structure. Key concepts include fault modes analysis, consensus algorithms, and the Proof-of-Work concept in Bitcoin.