Disclaimer: This text was contributed by co-founder of DAO Synergis. The views, thoughts, and opinions expressed in the article are the author's own and do not reflect the opinion of the editorial.

Tempography is a set of methods and techniques for protecting and hiding data in open systems. In fact, tempography combines steganography and cryptography capabilities. Let us find out how it works in detail.

The first thing to know is that tempography works in the XR continuum, which can be denoted by the following formula: XR=RR+VR+AR+MR+OR, where RR is real reality, OR is other kinds of reality.

Secondly, tempography assumes that XR-time can:

  • Stop;
  • Slow down;
  • Accelerate;
  • Invert;
  • Behave in a different way.

This may look like the following, for example:

And the reasonable question arises: 'Why? In the sense of why tempos are needed. The answers are several at once:

  • First, to classify and somehow exploit the various temporal anomalies clearly seen in Web 3.0 systems. For example, when a block height of XXX 002 is recorded earlier than XXX 001;
  • Secondly, to classify attacks of this kind and learn how to counter them. Previously, time-based attacks belonged to a narrow spectrum of attacks on physical channels, but tempography expands their capabilities and significantly;
  • Thirdly, tempography provides a wide range for the development of various temporal capsules, which will be discussed in a later article.

I will give examples of tempos, so that they can be assimilated faster - graphically:

We will explore all of these directions (and more) later, but for now we will answer the next important question: "Why has tempography only become known today? There will be several theses at once:

  1. Before 2008, there were no tools capable of transmitting value automatically, without the involvement of a single intermediary entity, in an untrusted environment, and it is this automatism and working in such an environment that generates opportunities for tempography;
  2. The more consensuses where there is time, the more prospects for tempography: say, PoH in Solana or timestamps in Bitcoin are exactly about this;
  3. Finally, tempography occurs not only at the L1 level, but also at the level of dApps and others.

Here is another minimalist infographic to clarify:

That is, tempography is not just focused on the L1 level (blockchain and DAG solutions), but can also be at L0, L2 and also at the new, synthetic, level, L3.

Thus, to deal with tempography, one has to:

  1. Understand that it has both positive (blockchain protection, for example) aspects and negative (Sybil attack amplification, say) aspects;
  2. It has prospects for development: if only because hiding data in open systems is quite difficult by other means (like, say, through circular signatures or ZK-mechanics);
  3. Another important aspect is that tempography is not yet a full-fledged branch of knowledge (much less a science) like steganography or cryptography, which means that the next 3-5 or even 7-10 years will see a boom of new and new methods of both attack and protection.

Therefore, in order to understand such not simple subject - let's try to make a plan of publications:

  1. General information about tempography;
  2. Classification of tempography attacks;
  3. Classification of defense mechanisms based on tempography;
  4. Challenges and perspectives of tempography;
  5. Projections for 2023-2030.

In this vein, we will have a dialogue. But there are two more important points:

  1. Don't underestimate tempography as just another geek's fantasy, because it's already used today for large-scale solutions and in a multichain world where sharding and vertical scaling are not just words, the impact will only increase;
  2. Equally, we should not dream of any solutions that are not raw yet, because this field of knowledge has only just begun its ascent.

Otherwise it is an interesting and complicated field, which will hit the heart of any net-stalker! And I'm done for now.

Talk to you soon!