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That’s a super-bad-faith argument. Did you personally write the legal contract for the last place you were a tenant of without any involvement from a lawyer?

That’s a super-bad-faith argument. Did you personally write the legal contract for the last place you were a tenant of without any involvement from a lawyer? No. Your landlord might have hired a lawyer. Mine used an off-the-shelf legal contract. For common situations like rent, open-source contracts are inevitable. This will give people who could never afford lawyers (think 3rd world) access to much of the results middle class Americans take for granted.

robjan 5y ago
Most countries include some kind of arbitration when something is disputed e.g was the damage caused by negligence or wear and tear? The smart contract can't settle disputes like this without a trusted party.
- mindcandy 5y ago
  Yes. But, as elaborated elsewhere in this thread, the reputable dispute arbitrator does not have to be a government agent. In countries where government agents are installed through corruption and paid in bribes, handing the 3rd vote on who gets the Bitcoin to someone based on reputation rather than appointment is a great boon.
  - dmitriid 5y ago
    Ah yes. The tired old "3rd world countries". Even in 3rd world countries you will need someone to understand programming and contracts to verify that the smart contract actually implements what you've agreed on. So you're replacing "government agents installed through corruption" with "saints beyond reproach because smart contracts"?
  - jonhendry18 5y ago
    " In countries where government agents are installed through corruption and paid in bribes" And somehow this won't also end up artificially boosting the "reputation" of potential arbitrators? (Or perhaps the government will make it clear that anyone who acts as an arbitrator without government authorization will spend a long time in a small cell.)
dmitriid 5y ago
> Did you personally write the legal contract for the last place you were a tenant of without any involvement from a lawyer? No When I was renting my apartment in Sweden, the contract was literally one page long. It was written in such a simple language that I could understand it even with a rudimentary knowledge of Swedish. When I was buying my apartment, the contract was four pages long, and the language wasn't much harder. Now, with an Ethereum contract I would have to learn an esoteric programming language, look at the contract's source code, verify that it actually corresponds to an actual contract that we already agreed to. And all that even without getting into the question of who's going to enforce this contract, and how. And don't forget, in many jurisdictions an "IOU $50" written on a napkin is a legally binding contract requiring zero lawyers.
ac29 5y ago
My last lease contract was written in English, which I can read. If it was written in, say, Solidity (Ethereum programming language), I would have had to hire someone to read it for me, or sign it without understanding it. That was the point.

robjan 5y ago

Most countries include some kind of arbitration when something is disputed e.g was the damage caused by negligence or wear and tear? The smart contract can't settle disputes like this without a trusted party.

mindcandy 5y ago
Yes. But, as elaborated elsewhere in this thread, the reputable dispute arbitrator does not have to be a government agent. In countries where government agents are installed through corruption and paid in bribes, handing the 3rd vote on who gets the Bitcoin to someone based on reputation rather than appointment is a great boon.
- dmitriid 5y ago
  Ah yes. The tired old "3rd world countries". Even in 3rd world countries you will need someone to understand programming and contracts to verify that the smart contract actually implements what you've agreed on. So you're replacing "government agents installed through corruption" with "saints beyond reproach because smart contracts"?
- jonhendry18 5y ago
  " In countries where government agents are installed through corruption and paid in bribes" And somehow this won't also end up artificially boosting the "reputation" of potential arbitrators? (Or perhaps the government will make it clear that anyone who acts as an arbitrator without government authorization will spend a long time in a small cell.)

dmitriid 5y ago

> Did you personally write the legal contract for the last place you were a tenant of without any involvement from a lawyer? No When I was renting my apartment in Sweden, the contract was literally one page long. It was written in such a simple language that I could understand it even with a rudimentary knowledge of Swedish. When I was buying my apartment, the contract was four pages long, and the language wasn't much harder. Now, with an Ethereum contract I would have to learn an esoteric programming language, look at the contract's source code, verify that it actually corresponds to an actual contract that we already agreed to. And all that even without getting into the question of who's going to enforce this contract, and how. And don't forget, in many jurisdictions an "IOU $50" written on a napkin is a legally binding contract requiring zero lawyers.

ac29 5y ago

My last lease contract was written in English, which I can read. If it was written in, say, Solidity (Ethereum programming language), I would have had to hire someone to read it for me, or sign it without understanding it. That was the point.