The analogy I like to use to think about possible repercussions of smart contracts is this: smart contracts are to agreement as the internet is to communication

The analogy I like to use to think about possible repercussions of smart contracts is this: smart contracts are to agreement as the internet is to communication. Think about the criticisms of the internet in its early days. You essentially /only/ had the unprecendented communications wizardry when you tied yourself to one of several oversized devices in universities or big companies. But now, every person has a platform for communication in their pockets and embedded into most other devices. So right now, we don't have a ubiquitous platform for permissionless agreements that can operate outside government and corporation. The most tech-savvy among us are experimenting, but the real exciting possibilities come when people start building tools for managing agreements without requiring privileged third-parties specializing in the management of that trust transaction. Then, lots of businesses start being decoupled -- the bread and butter of most businesses are just the bundling a few specific trusted transaction types in accordance with legal requirements. ie Uber = reputation + geospatial routing + messaging/agreements between drivers and passengers. Having an agreement platform allows the monopoly of coordination for these types of trust transactions to be wrested away from organizations like Uber. The same goes for lots of other types of organizations :)