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I honestly thought the author was trolling us (until I read the comments). There are so many holes in his example of ebook transaction. Here's just the two poin

I honestly thought the author was trolling us (until I read the comments). There are so many holes in his example of ebook transaction. Here's just the two points he made that were the most egregious to me: >> and that the book — rather than some other file, or nothing at all — will actually arrive Really? Ever heard of checksums - its used all over the place. And if we weren't able to trust it, I guarantee you that blockchain tech is not the only thing that will break. >> It’s a complicated way to buy a book! It’s not trustless, you’re trusting in the software (and your ability to defend yourself in a software-driven world), instead of trusting other people It's like arguing with my grandma about evolution. "But you are trusting the scientists!!". I don't know where to begin.

eridius 9y ago
How are you supposed to checksum the book before you have it? You can't do that without trust, because you need to trust someone to give you the right checksum.
- webmaven 9y ago
  Not quite that dire: The checksum is typically public, where a large set of diverse stakeholders (most of which have incentives aligned with yours) can publically dispute it's veracity, increasing the costs of fraud. Moreover, some of those stakeholders may already be part of your existing circle of trust (either directly or transitively), which increases uncertainty for fradulent sellers.
  - eridius 9y ago
    Name me a single eBook you've purchased where the checksum for the eBook was public.