Tim Roughgarden pfp

Tim Roughgarden

@tr

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1210 Followers


Tim Roughgarden pfp
Tim Roughgarden
@tr
Over the past three summers @a16zcrypto we've had 19 tremendous research interns. Want to be part of the summer '25 cohort? The application is open now, for full consideration please apply by Nov 8. https://a16z.com/about/jobs/?gh_jid=6242445003
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Tim Roughgarden pfp
Tim Roughgarden
@tr
gotta stop getting my hopes up for a sunn o))) concert every time someone advertises a drone show
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Tim Roughgarden pfp
Tim Roughgarden
@tr
Finally got around to uploading the corresponding video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l8uRkvrnc_c
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Tim Roughgarden pfp
Tim Roughgarden
@tr
Major update to the paper with @mbahrani @pgarimidi on transaction fee mechanism design in a post-MEV world (i.e., with active block producers), now with searchers (Sections 2.5+4) and tight welfare guarantees (Section 5). Full paper at https://timroughgarden.org/papers/eobp3.pdf
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Tim Roughgarden pfp
Tim Roughgarden
@tr
Happy to report that the main open theory question from my original work on EIP-1559 has been resolved (with two brilliant collaborators, Hao Chung and Elaine Shi)---no transaction fee mechanism can be DSIC, MMIC, and OCA-proof! https://arxiv.org/pdf/2402.09321.pdf (more context below) 1/7
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Tim Roughgarden pfp
Tim Roughgarden
@tr
One unexpected thing about the MOOCs is that it's in some sense the "pursest" teaching that I've ever done --- no certification, no assessment (other than self-assessment), etc. Everyone there was/is hungry for knowledge and skills, in many cases with few other avenues to attain them
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Tim Roughgarden pfp
Tim Roughgarden
@tr
I've gotten many hundreds of messages like this since my MOOCs on algorithms launched in 2011. Hearing stories like this never, ever gets old. @has so happy you found it useful!
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Tim Roughgarden pfp
Tim Roughgarden
@tr
never thought i'd ever unironically say to myself "thank god, it's justin timberlake" but that's how bad the usual "worst of the 80s" music is at my local grocery store
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Tim Roughgarden pfp
Tim Roughgarden
@tr
Oof, might be awhile. For one, a lot of the science hasn't stabilized enough to immortalize in a video lecture. For two, these are an utterly insane amount of work --- probably 20+ hours of work behind the scenes for each hour you see on YouTube
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Tim Roughgarden pfp
Tim Roughgarden
@tr
Thanks! Most recently I leaned into my obsessive side and put out something like 8+ hours of videos on proof-of-stake protocols, e.g. more than you ever wanted to know about PoW vs. PoS pros and cons here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XnS9VMqVPpE&list=PLEGCF-WLh2RLOHv_xUGLqRts_9JxrckiA&index=84
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Tim Roughgarden pfp
Tim Roughgarden
@tr
I like the metaphor of root access, thanks, definitely going to steal that! I much prefer "blockchain=computer" to "blockchain=DB" though (DB metaphor emphasizes storage rather than computation; normies are familiar with computers in a way that they're not with DBs, etc.)
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Tim Roughgarden pfp
Tim Roughgarden
@tr
In 2002, when I would tell someone that I was a computer scientist, I would often get an eye-roll and a joke about pets dot com in response
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Tim Roughgarden pfp
Tim Roughgarden
@tr
Looking forward to the day when junior researchers in blockchains/web3 no longer risk winding up as collateral damage due to bad actors of the past
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Tim Roughgarden pfp
Tim Roughgarden
@tr
Oof, rough luck for one of my research advisees---one of his interviewers for a graduate fellowship (a biologist, randomly) was still bitter about getting rugged by a crypto co-founder back in 2017 and unwilling to talk about anything other than FTX in the interview
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Tim Roughgarden pfp
Tim Roughgarden
@tr
Day 3 videos from December's Columbia CryptoEconomics Workshop (working sessions led by @mikeneuder.eth @justindrake @soispoke @barnabe @davidecrapis @ansgar.eth Casper Schwarz-Schilling on inclusion lists/execution tickets/timing games/etc.) at https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLpktWkixc1gVBL86kRMKAjulTD9SlnNIj
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Tim Roughgarden pfp
Tim Roughgarden
@tr
Here's the talk intro I'm currently playing with (meant to motivate blockchains/web3 without ever resorting to cryptocurrencies/finance/etc.), something like 7-8min before I get into all the technical stuff (h/t @skominers and @cdixon.eth you'll see I stole some stuff from you)
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Tim Roughgarden pfp
Tim Roughgarden
@tr
I'm going back on the academic lecture circuit in 2024 (often with skeptical audiences), so I'm currently fine-tuning my blockchain+web3 arguments/analogies/explanations. Feedback very welcome!!
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Tim Roughgarden pfp
Tim Roughgarden
@tr
Is the following a good analogy? 1. The Internet aspires to be neutral infrastructure for communication. 2. Permissionless blockchains aspire to be neutral infrastructure for computation.
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Tim Roughgarden pfp
Tim Roughgarden
@tr
Proposer-builder separation (PBS) plays a major role in Ethereum's current block-building process. But is PBS a good design? Is it really necessary? A new paper with Maryam Bahrani and @pgarimidi develops the theory necessary for reasoning rigorously about these questions
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