would bitcoin be capable of switching consensus methods

NotATether

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Quote from: aidoyoh on January 26, 2023, 12:13:46 AM

If a new consensus method came along that was undeniably more efficient would bitcoin be able to come together enough to agree and make the change across the entire network?

It is technically possible to change the consensus, if the majority of people wanted it to - this is not like some 50% or more decision mind you, because that could potentially split the network in half.

But actually, the overwhelming majority of BTC users do not want to see any change from Proof of Work, as you can see in my and other users' personal text (as of Jan 2023).

cryptoaddictchie

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Quote from: aidoyoh on January 26, 2023, 12:13:46 AM

If a new consensus method came along that was undeniably more efficient would bitcoin be able to come together enough to agree and make the change across the entire network?

I think PoW is effectively working for bitcoin, if you think another consensus might be the solution for that then it will be a huge debate plus its fixed for bitcoin already. I doubt Satoshi would be delighted to change to a new one like ethereum did which is likely not to happen.

pooya87

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Quote from: aidoyoh on January 26, 2023, 12:47:42 AM

if there was a new type of consensus what would be the best way to test it or notify the network though?

The idea will be first proposed and discussed among the experts who are familiar with the subject (ie. mainly on bitcoin mailing list). Then the developers have to write the code for the proposal and publish it for review (on github) before it is deployed in testing environment (a separate test network) to find its flaws and improve it further.
All these steps can be reviewed by the community too. But in the last step regular users could also test things if they duplicate the code and compile/run it on their own.
Finally after the bugs were fixed and if the change is deemed worthy it will be put to vote.

Cryptogames999

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Quote from: aidoyoh on January 26, 2023, 12:47:42 AM

if there was a new type of consensus what would be the best way to test it or notify the network though?

No way,
We know Ethereum is the second Crypto after Bitcoin so we have to use it instead of changing Bitcoin statistics. Bitcoin already proved it can rise as much as it can so we should have patience.
So no test, nothing for Bitcoin as done everything already.

franky1

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if your thinking of a completely new rules. like changing to PoS or changing supply. or any of the big deal things..

already done infinitum.. there are hundreds and hundreds of altcoins that done this

its called "forking"

want more than "21m bitcoin" there's already an altcoin for that
want less than "21m bitcoin" there's already an altcoin for that
want less blocktime there's already an altcoin for that
want [insert anything] there's already an altcoin for that
want PoS instead of Pow there's already an altcoin for that

if you want the real bitcoin to change it require pretty much unanimous economic node(merchant/services) to treat the fork as the mainchain. and for all the network power/valididation/acceptance of block solving methodology to strengthen the main chain that users follow and continue with

otherwise you are just forking off to make an altcoin in a new community

aidoyoh

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if there was a new type of consensus what would be the best way to test it or notify the network though?

pooya87

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Your question is too vague and too broad.
Additional consensus rules have been added to Bitcoin over the years such as P2SH, OP_CSV/OP_CLV, SegWit, Taproot,... which means when something useful is introduced the community reaches a consensus over the change and activate it.

The part about "efficient" is vague too, if you mean "efficient mining algorithm" then there is no such thing because PoW is very efficient and is doing what it is supposed to do which is protecting the immutability of Bitcoin blobkchain by increasing the cost of the attacks.
If something comes along that solves all the problems at the same time (not something silly that introduces more attack vectors like PoS), I'm sure the community can reach consensus and activate that too.

aidoyoh

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If a new consensus method came along that was undeniably more efficient would bitcoin be able to come together enough to agree and make the change across the entire network?

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