First Principles Ep. 7 with Noam Nisan More than 30 years ago, Gödel Prize winner @noamnisan helped develop a proof technique he never expected anyone to use in the real world. Today, the sum-check protocol sits at the heart of some of the fastest modern SNARKs. Nisan traces its unlikely journey from early work on interactive proofs and IP = PSPACE to practical systems for verifiable computation. But Nisan’s career also tells a broader story about how research responds to technological change. When the web arrived in the 1990s, he deliberately left a field in which he was already a leading researcher to understand a new problem: How do you get independent actors on the internet to cooperate when they have different incentives? That question helped give rise to algorithmic game theory — and, decades later, brought Nisan back to questions around blockchain fees, token economics, and protocol design. Hosted by @Tim_Roughgarden with @SuccinctJT 0:00 Intro 1:28 Noam Nisan and the origins of verifiable computation 2:58 Why Noam Nisan left complexity theory 7:52 POPcorn, distributed computing, and early blockchain-like ideas 11:10 The birth of algorithmic game theory 16:14 Justin Thaler discovers the sum-check protocol 25:05 From arithmetization to LFKN 27:06 The story behind IP = PSPACE 30:40 Why sum-check matters for modern SNARKs 31:15 What is a SNARK? 38:52 The key idea behind sum-check: turning two into one 44:03 When SNARKs went from theory to practice 46:03 Why blockchains were the breakthrough use case 50:36 Noam Nisan’s move into blockchain economics 56:15 EIP-1559, transaction fees, and efficient blockspace 1:02:07 From theoretical computer science to real-world systems 1:08:49 Boiling down the sum-check protocol: Two become one 1:10:58 Is the sum-check protocol optimal?

NIS America president Kenzo Saruhashi says PlayStation is “hearing a lot of the feedback from customers” on the 2028 disc cutoff. He also runs Nippon Ichi Software, the Disgaea studio. Limited editions are a big part of NISA’s JRPG business. Those boxes still ship, he told Kotaku. After January 2028 a code-in-a-box SKU is one option. He says it is not the only one on the table. Sony said in July that new PlayStation games after that date go digital-only. Older disc titles can still be reprinted. CFO Lin Tao has already said the company will “cautiously move this forward.” Saruhashi is not claiming a reversal. He is saying the talk with Sony can still change. For a publisher that lives on physical collector sets, that is the update.

Nippon Ichi CEO Kenzo Saruhashi says they’re in “discussions” with Sony about the end of discs. At PAX West: “I think that they’re hearing a lot of the feedback from customers.” Code-in-a-box is one option. “It’s possible that the discussion may change in the future.” NISA’s business is limited editions. He says they still intend to keep making those. Disc manufacturing for new games is still slated to stop January 1, 2028. Clearly leaving the door open.

A hummingbird in Antarctica? This striking image, taken by the NISAR satellite, is actually a mountaintop surrounded by flowing, fractured ice. Radar reveals features at and beneath the surface that ordinary images can miss. More:

I'm not of fan of regulation for two reasons - 1) its hard to get right, and 2) its highly susceptible to regulatory capture. That said, if we insist on doing it, we should try to get it correct. As "safety" seems is the primary goal of this AI regulation exercise, I wanted to share that I recently went deep on both the 737 Max (2 crashes) and Fukushima accidents. In both cases, the investigations led to a conclusion that "regulatory capture" was the EXACT failure that led to both safety incidents. Boeing/FAA and Tepco/NISA. As a result, with safety as the #1# goal, the regulator MUST BE someone with authority and accountability "over" the regulated company. The idea that it could be a friendly third party with lots of cross-relationships is structurally broken idea. Ask Mr. Kiyoshi Kurokawa. If we insist on doing this the regulator (1) needs to be 100% independent, 2) the "tests" and "procedures" need to come for the regulator not the company, and (3) the regulator needs to understand their responsibility is to the American people. They need to feel the authority over the regulated company and the responsibility to the nation. It's imperative. Or it will fail.

🚨 JAPAN IS DOING EVERYTHING IT CAN TO SAVE ITS BOND MARKET FROM A CRISIS Japan's Finance Ministry is now planning tax breaks for citizens who buy government bonds, according to a new proposal for fiscal 2027. The Bank of Japan used to buy most of Japan's debt. It has been slashing those purchases since 2024, and now there's a real gap forming. Households currently hold just 2% of Japanese government bonds. The Bank of Japan holds roughly 50%. Banks and other institutions hold about 40%. The plan would add government bonds to the New NISA, the country's tax free investment program, and would be included in the fiscal 2027 tax reform proposals due at the end of August. Some lawmakers even want inheritance tax relief on these bonds, but there is pushback over giving bonds special treatment other investments don't get. Long term Japanese bond yields are already at levels not seen in decades. If ordinary citizens don't step in to fill the gap, Japan may struggle to keep funding its own government debt.

A Man Gets Twice the Inheritance of a Woman, Is This Islam’s Justice? A man stands smiling in front of a mountain of gold, while a woman stands beside him holding only a small bag of coins. Quran 4:11 clearly states: “Allah instructs you concerning your children: for the male, what is equal to the share of two females.” This is Islam’s version of gender equality. A son receives twice the inheritance of a daughter. The same family, the same parents, the same bloodline, yet when it comes to inheritance, a woman suddenly becomes worth half. Why? Simply because she is a woman. How can a religion claim to stand for equality and justice when it does not grant equal inheritance rights to men and women? In today’s world, women are doctors, scientists, teachers, judges, and entrepreneurs. They contribute to society just as much as men. Yet a rule from 1,400 years ago still says that one man’s share should be equal to that of two women. This is not divine justice. It is a reflection of the patriarchal society of 7th-century Arabia. A system in which women were not treated as equals, but as heirs entitled to a smaller share simply because of their gender. Why is a woman’s share half? Because Islamic inheritance law assigns a male heir twice the share of a female heir. Reference: • Quran 4:11 (Surah An-Nisa 4:11) - Atheist Republic International