STOC '24 Keynote: The Computer in the Sky

My keynote lecture at the 2024 ACM Symposium on the Theory of Computing (STOC).
NB: audio is low-quality, especially in the second half.
Abstract:
Turing-complete blockchain protocols approximate the idealized abstraction of a "computer in the sky" that is open access, runs in plain view, and, in effect, has no owner or operator. This technology can, among other things, enable stronger notions of ownership of digital possessions than we have ever had before. Building the computer in the sky is hard (and scientifically fascinating). In this talk I'll highlight some of my recent research on this challenge, emphasizing the diversity of mathematical tools required, the immediate practical impact that mathematical work on this topic has had, and some open problems of interest to theoretical computer scientists.