Perhaps this isn’t obvious, but note that fully validating nodes do not need to store the entire block chain history, currently, just the set of unspent transaction outputs, and there are proposals to eliminate the need for validators to store even that. If it’s just a gentleman’s agreement then it would be doable but wouldn’t really have any teeth against a motivated attacker.
That’s a good point. To make this work, it’d probably make the most sense to treat the pre-published hash the same as unspent outputs. It can’t be free to make these or you could indeed DoS bitcoin.
I did not know you could have zero value outputs. I’ll look into that. (And don’t worry, I wasn’t planning on destroying any coins!)
What would “immaterial existence” even mean?
I think my claim is that the above argument shows that whatever that might be, it’s equivalent to epistemological objectivism.
Specifically, to believe that they’re separate, given the scenario where you simulate universes until you find a conscious mind and then construct a replica in your own universe, you have to believe both of the following at the same time:
(1) Mind X didn’t have real memories/experiences until you simulated it in the “real” world (i.e., yours), and (2) proof of mind X’s running existed previously to you computing it (in the form of an execution history).
To me, accepting both points requires me to believe something like “Proofs that I don’t know about aren’t true”, and I’ll be happy if you can show me why that’s not true.