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I've always hated the term contract in this context because it's overloaded. These are mathematical contracts, not legal contracts. The underlying math enforces

I've always hated the term contract in this context because it's overloaded. These are mathematical contracts, not legal contracts. The underlying math enforces the outcomes. Anyway, I think the tech is agnostic. It can be used for good or evil, just like a knife. It's just a tool.

joe_the_user 6y ago
Smart contract are effects that automatically happen to accounts using tokens that aspire to be currency. So the scenario - a person works for etherium tokens (or whatever equilivalent), a person has certain number of tokens accumulated as their savings. A person violates whatever smart contract they have agreed to and they're automatically penalized, with courts or anyone else being unable to undo this - even if the contract was for, say, illegal activity. If the entire economy of any area runs on whatever crypto tokens, a person could have no choice but to agree to one of these contracts. It's fairly unlikely to happen, admittedly, but the point is the entire exercise is a blue print for a Libertarian Party Utopia/Dystopia, depending on one's interpretation of the situation. My interpretation is extreme dystopia.
- CryptoPunk 6y ago
  I request that the mods remove comments like this, which are obviously being offered in bad faith when they include deliberate misspellings like "etherium" in a petty attempt to aggravate a specific group of people.
  - bootcampwhere 6y ago
    NH always has and will be full of Bitcoin hating trolls.
  - ZeteticElench 6y ago
    I think he makes a damn good point.
- syntheticcdo 6y ago
  How are the courts unable to undo a smart contract? Just like with cash, a victim of fraud can still win in court versus the perpetrator, and the court can order restitution and if that's not possible, garnishment. Just because something is digitally irreversible doesn't mean it can't be undone the traditional way.
jazzyjackson 6y ago
Bear in mind some knives are designed for slicing vegetables and some knives are designed for stabbing humans, and whenever you design a tool, you are making a certain action easier to accomplish.
- noman-land 6y ago
  I think the analog to that would be that some smart contracts can be designed to do benign things like trade cats and some can be designed to do malicious things, like assassinate someone for money.

joe_the_user 6y ago

Smart contract are effects that automatically happen to accounts using tokens that aspire to be currency. So the scenario - a person works for etherium tokens (or whatever equilivalent), a person has certain number of tokens accumulated as their savings. A person violates whatever smart contract they have agreed to and they're automatically penalized, with courts or anyone else being unable to undo this - even if the contract was for, say, illegal activity. If the entire economy of any area runs on whatever crypto tokens, a person could have no choice but to agree to one of these contracts. It's fairly unlikely to happen, admittedly, but the point is the entire exercise is a blue print for a Libertarian Party Utopia/Dystopia, depending on one's interpretation of the situation. My interpretation is extreme dystopia.

CryptoPunk 6y ago
I request that the mods remove comments like this, which are obviously being offered in bad faith when they include deliberate misspellings like "etherium" in a petty attempt to aggravate a specific group of people.
- bootcampwhere 6y ago
  NH always has and will be full of Bitcoin hating trolls.
- ZeteticElench 6y ago
  I think he makes a damn good point.
syntheticcdo 6y ago
How are the courts unable to undo a smart contract? Just like with cash, a victim of fraud can still win in court versus the perpetrator, and the court can order restitution and if that's not possible, garnishment. Just because something is digitally irreversible doesn't mean it can't be undone the traditional way.

jazzyjackson 6y ago

Bear in mind some knives are designed for slicing vegetables and some knives are designed for stabbing humans, and whenever you design a tool, you are making a certain action easier to accomplish.

noman-land 6y ago
I think the analog to that would be that some smart contracts can be designed to do benign things like trade cats and some can be designed to do malicious things, like assassinate someone for money.