Insights from the a16z crypto episode “Before Blockchains, There Was State Machine Replication (ft. Barbara Liskov and Tim Roughgarden)”, published June 19, 2026.
Turing Award-winning computer scientist Barbara Liskov explains that modern blockchain protocols are essentially practical implementations of state machine replication, a concept she pioneered in the 1980s. She argues that as AI automates low-level coding, the future of computer science lies in high-level system design, modularity, and rigorous verification to ensure reliability.
Topics: distributed systems, blockchain, computer science, modularity, Barbara Liskov
