kepford on Nostr: Smart Contracts? Thoughts from an IP and Contract Attorney ...
Smart Contracts? Thoughts from an IP and Contract Attorney
https://www.stephankinsella.com/2022/02/libertarian-answer-man-smart-contracts/
One of the big topics that caught my attention when I first acquired some bitcoin was smart contracts. I didn't hear about this from bitcoiners but rather the crypto crowd. It took years for me to realize what these snake oil salesmen were up to.
As a technical person with no experience in law the idea of a smart contract sounds appealing. Over time though, the idea started to sound far fetched to me. I started to wonder how any of these contracts except for purely digital and simple agreements would be enforced. That's not to mention that vulnerability of the chains themselves. I haven't really thought about smart contracts for a long time but I came across this post from the libertarian intellectual property attorney and author Stephan Kinsella.
I recommended reading the full post but this snippet pretty much sums it up.
> I don’t dismiss it(smart contract) either, just the hype and ignorance around it. I think that over time more things will become automated with forms, AI, arbitration, even automation, but it will develop incrementally and in the end its use case will be very narrow. This is because most people don’t understand a few things:
> 1. most contracts are very complicated and require verbal language (words) to express the terms (and can’t be done with simple symbolic logic; if anything contractual verbiage gets more nuanced and complicated over time, not simpler) and arbitrators/judges/courts to decide when there is a dispute.
> 2. most contracts involve real world assets, not digital ones, so can’t be fully automated
> 3. most contracts do not have an escrow component, that is, what you owe in the future is uncertain and even when it’s certain, the thing owed doens’t exist yet and may never exist. So there is now way to automate how to handle uncertain future conditions.
> Contracts just set up a framework for how to decide who owns some uncertain future assets, and who decides it, and how to enforce. This cannot be automated–or, even if or to the extent it can, it doesn’t solve any real problem that needs solving. It’s just “neat” and might attract nerds who like to watch Star Wars but no one in the real world cares about this shit
~ [LIBERTARIAN ANSWER MAN: Smart Contracts](https://www.stephankinsella.com/2022/02/libertarian-answer-man-smart-contracts/)
https://www.stephankinsella.com/2022/02/libertarian-answer-man-smart-contracts/
One of the big topics that caught my attention when I first acquired some bitcoin was smart contracts. I didn't hear about this from bitcoiners but rather the crypto crowd. It took years for me to realize what these snake oil salesmen were up to.
As a technical person with no experience in law the idea of a smart contract sounds appealing. Over time though, the idea started to sound far fetched to me. I started to wonder how any of these contracts except for purely digital and simple agreements would be enforced. That's not to mention that vulnerability of the chains themselves. I haven't really thought about smart contracts for a long time but I came across this post from the libertarian intellectual property attorney and author Stephan Kinsella.
I recommended reading the full post but this snippet pretty much sums it up.
> I don’t dismiss it(smart contract) either, just the hype and ignorance around it. I think that over time more things will become automated with forms, AI, arbitration, even automation, but it will develop incrementally and in the end its use case will be very narrow. This is because most people don’t understand a few things:
> 1. most contracts are very complicated and require verbal language (words) to express the terms (and can’t be done with simple symbolic logic; if anything contractual verbiage gets more nuanced and complicated over time, not simpler) and arbitrators/judges/courts to decide when there is a dispute.
> 2. most contracts involve real world assets, not digital ones, so can’t be fully automated
> 3. most contracts do not have an escrow component, that is, what you owe in the future is uncertain and even when it’s certain, the thing owed doens’t exist yet and may never exist. So there is now way to automate how to handle uncertain future conditions.
> Contracts just set up a framework for how to decide who owns some uncertain future assets, and who decides it, and how to enforce. This cannot be automated–or, even if or to the extent it can, it doesn’t solve any real problem that needs solving. It’s just “neat” and might attract nerds who like to watch Star Wars but no one in the real world cares about this shit
~ [LIBERTARIAN ANSWER MAN: Smart Contracts](https://www.stephankinsella.com/2022/02/libertarian-answer-man-smart-contracts/)