# kaal:claim:3782203-027

**Claim.** Finding a correct by construction algorithm that incorporates all possible or even all practical assumptions about network status is not possible, because for any set of assumptions about network behavior an actor can break those assumptions by valuing some other result.

**Type.** failure  **Support.** argued

**Holds when.**

- consensus algorithms for open anonymous networks

**Source quote.**

> Finding a correct by construction algorithm that incorporates all possible, or even practical, assumptions of possible network statuses, is not possible. Given any set of assumptions about how the network will behave, you can always break those assump- tions by valuing some other result.

**From.** Craig Calcaterra, Wulf A. Kaal, *A Technical Perspective on Decentralization* (2021), Application to PoS consensus algorithms, page 18

**Cite as.** Craig Calcaterra, Wulf A. Kaal, A Technical Perspective on Decentralization (2021). SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=3782203

**Verify.** sha256 of source PDF `ab8a22d0dbb026a09212a4c85963f3c05787cf80775e8613ae3724e3883e7a56` at https://raw.githubusercontent.com/wulfkaal/Academic-Papers/main/papers/pdf/Calcaterra%20and%20Kaal%20-%202021%20-%20A%20Technical%20Perspective%20on%20Decentralization.pdf

**Failure mode.** assumption-escape  (family: research-design-limitation)

**Topics.** consensus-and-security

**Keywords.** correct-by-construction, consensus-algorithms, impossibility-results, assumption-escape

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