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How would this work? As I understand it pensions are almost never fully funded when they begin because the costs would be prohibitive. Can a smart contract guar

by Falell 9y ago

How would this work? As I understand it pensions are almost never fully funded when they begin because the costs would be prohibitive. Can a smart contract guarantee that funds that are not available now will be made available at a later date?

gnaritas 9y ago
It wouldn't work, almost nothing people want to do with smart contract can actually work because those people tend not to actually understand what a smart contract is or what it can actually do and what it can't do. Virtually every smart contract proposal is DOA due to a misunderstanding of their nature.
- staunch 9y ago
  What's missing from your claim is any justification for it all. You're just claiming, on zero authority, that it's not possible. So enlighten us. Why do you think it's impossible to encode the mechanics of a pension in a smart contract-based system?
  - gnaritas 9y ago
    I didn't need to, the comment I replied to already addressed a valid why. Smart contracts can't enforce access to funds without locking the funds up from other use, and that's not how things work in the real world. Pensions aren't savings accounts where funds are locked up ready to be used in a black box. They can't interact with the real world without trusted oracles, but we already have that in the real world and they're only real use is when they can do something deterministic on chain. In short, they're largely hype without a real problem to solve... so far.
    - staunch 9y ago
      You're just claiming it's impractical today, not technically infeasible for any reason. 1. Pensions don't currently work like this There are many thousands of different pension systems across the world. It stands to reason that you could create new system, and if it had significantly attractive advantages, people would use it. 2. Trusted oracles are a problem Yup, we need more decentralized services that smart contracts can take advantage of. Wait a few years, they're coming. 3. Smart contracts are only useful for deterministic changes Making deterministic change is precisely what you want. Do you mean statically defined? Because that's obviously not correct. And are you considering a new system specifically designed for pensions? Virtually all innovative technology is "hype" until it isn't. I agree we have a ways to go.
      - gnaritas 9y ago
        Hence my final words, so far... > Making deterministic change is precisely what you want. Yes, but that's a problem when you have to interact with the real world which isn't.
staunch 9y ago
To the extent they are funded, that money could never be rescinded. And you could negotiate early funding as a feature now, because it would actually mean something to the recipients. There are no untrustworthy promises required. And you could do new things based on control of your pension, which might radically change how we think of them. The main thing that smart contracts remove is the need for trust. And that's the main problem with pensions.

by Falell 9y ago

gnaritas 9y ago

It wouldn't work, almost nothing people want to do with smart contract can actually work because those people tend not to actually understand what a smart contract is or what it can actually do and what it can't do. Virtually every smart contract proposal is DOA due to a misunderstanding of their nature.

staunch 9y ago
What's missing from your claim is any justification for it all. You're just claiming, on zero authority, that it's not possible. So enlighten us. Why do you think it's impossible to encode the mechanics of a pension in a smart contract-based system?
- gnaritas 9y ago
  I didn't need to, the comment I replied to already addressed a valid why. Smart contracts can't enforce access to funds without locking the funds up from other use, and that's not how things work in the real world. Pensions aren't savings accounts where funds are locked up ready to be used in a black box. They can't interact with the real world without trusted oracles, but we already have that in the real world and they're only real use is when they can do something deterministic on chain. In short, they're largely hype without a real problem to solve... so far.
  - staunch 9y ago
    You're just claiming it's impractical today, not technically infeasible for any reason. 1. Pensions don't currently work like this There are many thousands of different pension systems across the world. It stands to reason that you could create new system, and if it had significantly attractive advantages, people would use it. 2. Trusted oracles are a problem Yup, we need more decentralized services that smart contracts can take advantage of. Wait a few years, they're coming. 3. Smart contracts are only useful for deterministic changes Making deterministic change is precisely what you want. Do you mean statically defined? Because that's obviously not correct. And are you considering a new system specifically designed for pensions? Virtually all innovative technology is "hype" until it isn't. I agree we have a ways to go.
    - gnaritas 9y ago
      Hence my final words, so far... > Making deterministic change is precisely what you want. Yes, but that's a problem when you have to interact with the real world which isn't.

staunch 9y ago

To the extent they are funded, that money could never be rescinded. And you could negotiate early funding as a feature now, because it would actually mean something to the recipients. There are no untrustworthy promises required. And you could do new things based on control of your pension, which might radically change how we think of them. The main thing that smart contracts remove is the need for trust. And that's the main problem with pensions.