Society · Coordination
LazyConsensus
Optimistic execution, retroactive verification
Definition
Mechanism
Agents execute transactions immediately without waiting for global consensus, assuming everything is valid. If a conflict is detected later, they use a deterministic rollback rule (e.g., 'highest ID wins'). Maximizes speed over safety. It bypasses the blocking Quorum, executing immediately and using the TimeWarpLog to resolve conflicts retroactively.
Preconditions
- Target operations are internally reversible (no irreversible external side-effects)
- Conflict detection mechanism is active
Postconditions
- Transaction applied optimistically
- Conflict resolution triggered if divergence detected
Invariants
- Conflict resolution is pure: the same inputs always pick the same winner.
- Reverting a transaction cannot corrupt unrelated state.
- Applies only to reversible or low-stakes actions.
- Conflicts are actively detected, not merely handled if noticed.
Risks
Failure modes
Cascading rollbacks.
Applied to irreversible external action (email sent, funds transferred, API called)—rollback impossible, inconsistency permanent.
Relationships
Builds on
References
Infrastructure
Minimum participation threshold
Infrastructure
Handling relativistic event ordering
Used by
References
Declaration and execution in a single turn
Reference