{"podcast":{"title":"The a16z Show","slug":"the-a16z-show-436525","podcast_index_feed_id":436525,"rss_url":"https://feeds.simplecast.com/JGE3yC0V","website_url":"https://a16z.simplecast.com","image_url":"https://image.simplecastcdn.com/images/0d97354a-306b-45f5-bf26-a8d81eef47ec/ed2664df-9371-438e-8baf-dd2ee0fdde87/3000x3000/thea16zshow-podcastcoverart-3000x3000.jpg?aid=rss_feed","author":"a16z","episode_count":1000,"summary":"The a16z Show discusses tech and culture trends, news, and the future – especially as ‘software eats the world’. It features industry experts, business leaders, and other interesting thinkers and voices from around the world. This show is produced by Andreessen Horowitz (aka “a16z”), a Silicon Valley-based venture capital firm. Multiple episodes are released every week; visit a16z.com for more details and to sign up for our newsletters and other content as well!","last_synced_at":"2026-08-01T18:20:08.038180+00:00","page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/the-a16z-show-436525"},"episode":{"title":"Before Blockchains, There Was State Machine Replication","slug":"before-blockchains-there-was-state-machine-replication","published_at":"2026-07-13T10:00:00+00:00","page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/the-a16z-show-436525/before-blockchains-there-was-state-machine-replication","show_page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/the-a16z-show-436525","url":"https://a16z.simplecast.com/episodes/before-blockchains-there-was-state-machine-replication-gGXd4DoC","audio_url":"https://mgln.ai/e/1344/afp-848985-injected.calisto.simplecastaudio.com/3f86df7b-51c6-4101-88a2-550dba782de8/episodes/8d6282f8-445d-45c9-9201-ac60f4d2fbe7/audio/128/default.mp3?aid=rss_feed&awCollectionId=3f86df7b-51c6-4101-88a2-550dba782de8&awEpisodeId=8d6282f8-445d-45c9-9201-ac60f4d2fbe7&feed=JGE3yC0V","summary":"Every blockchain today relies on replication techniques first developed in the 1980s by researchers who weren't thinking about cryptocurrencies at all. In this episode, Tim Roughgarden speaks with MIT professor and Turing Award winner Barbara Liskov, one of the pioneers of programming languages, fault tolerance, and distributed systems. Joined by a16z crypto research partner Ittai Abraham, they trace the evolution of ideas that now underpin modern blockchain networks. The conversation explores viewstamped replication, Practical Byzantine Fault Tolerance (PBFT), state machine replication, and why concepts developed decades before Bitcoin became the foundation for today's blockchain protocols. Along the way, Liskov reflects on the relationship between theory and practice, the importance of modularity and formal reasoning, and why AI is creating a new generation of systems research.","meta_description":"Every blockchain today relies on replication techniques first developed in the 1980s by researchers who weren't thinking about cryptocurrencies at all. In…","key_points":[],"chapters":[],"topics":[],"duration_seconds":2240,"processing_state":"not_requested","actions":[{"name":"request_transcript","method":"POST","url":"https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/the-a16z-show-436525/episodes/before-blockchains-there-was-state-machine-replication/transcription-requests","description":"Idempotently request low-priority transcript generation for this episode."},{"name":"read_markdown","method":"GET","url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/the-a16z-show-436525/before-blockchains-there-was-state-machine-replication.md","description":"Read the agent-friendly Markdown representation of this episode resource."}]}}