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Simple Contracts are Better Contracts: the Meltdown of the DAO

blog.blockstack.org

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Re: Simple Contracts are Better Contracts: the Meltdown of the DAO

#101

Post by lukesed »

tdaltonc wrote: post #34
sandworm101 wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>>... to include common law arbitration protocols. That's a great example of the sort of ambiguity that an arbitrator must deal with. Do you mean to refer to "the common law" as in the body of law descending from the brits, or do you mean the common law principals of precedent and authority? Or do you mean only the concept of precedent by which past decisions under similar fact patterns are used to inform decisions r…

I mean a "concept of precedent by which past decisions under similar fact patterns are used to inform decisions regarding new fact patterns." Without the need for territorial jurisdiction there will be many competing (but still distinct) common law groups. Signatories would pick a lineage at signing (npm install JAMS). We'll start with human only arbiters, (panel of three from JAMS for example) then moved to mixed pa…

>then totally mechanical arbiters will handle most disputes once they're good enough.

It seems to me that any such arbiter would need to have the practical ability to interpret the human intent behind imprecise/incorrect language and author/fix code. I think that would be a major advance in computer science and the most important application would be writing software.

Re: Simple Contracts are Better Contracts: the Meltdown of the DAO

#102

Post by cyphar »

internaut wrote: post #96
sandworm101 wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>>its been the execution and the honoring of the contract that man has not yet solved. I think we've worked it out. Billions of contracts are executed and honoured between flesh-and-blood persons every day. 99.999999% work without issue. A few wind up in courts, but I'd still call that a very good track record. (Yes I said billions, read up on all the various forms of contracts. Anyone reading this likely enters into…

> Billions of contracts are executed and honoured between flesh-and-blood persons every day. 99.999999% work without issue. It's a great point about volume. However a huge number of legal cases + contracts never get started in the first place because of cost. So those would be absent from your success rate. To put it bluntly there is no point in writing a contract for a $200 dollar job. Countless little guys get scre…

There are more types of contracts than written contracts. Even handshake deals can be considered contracts (though you'd need evidence that the agreement happened as well as evidence that all of the other conditions for enforceable contracts apply). Paper contracts exist so that there is a very clear statement of intent, but that's just one kind of contract.

Re: Simple Contracts are Better Contracts: the Meltdown of the DAO

#103

Post by cyphar »

cyrillic wrote: post #54
brbsix wrote: post #50

Earlier quoted context omitted.

51% attacks are a known issue. A sustained 51% attack is pretty much an existential threat to any blockchain. So I doubt the issue gets any better when dealing with individual contracts. https://blog.ethereum.org/2014/05/15/long-range-attacks-the-... http://ethereum.stackexchange.com/a/544

Thank you for your valuable input. The problem I see is not in having 51% of the whole capacity of the blockchain, but of the smaller entities/organizations/contract codes. With the proposed simple contracts, the little 'start-up' contract codes with little voting power will easily get acquired by bigger ones, which then vote for a code change to pay out the remaining shares. This is much more realistic that the trad…

But isn't that how businesses and boards work anyway? A supermajority will gladly screw over anyone else on the board. Just look at "Silicon Valley", the whole plot is about how boards can screw over the founders.

Re: Simple Contracts are Better Contracts: the Meltdown of the DAO

#104

Post by TheSpiceIsLife »

tdaltonc wrote: post #55
TheSpiceIsLife wrote: post #36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If the panel cannot arrive at a consensus, one token will execute at random. Hang on, this isn't the casino. Contracts don't usually have a 'random outcome' clause, do they? I think we better take this to the courts.

Whether the random number is pulled before the hearing (picking just 1 judge instead of 3) or after (by picking one vote token at random) seems the same to me.

Maybe I'm missing what you're getting out? It seems like you're suggesting dispute resolution should have a "fuck it, let's flip a coin" option?

Re: Simple Contracts are Better Contracts: the Meltdown of the DAO

#105

Post by tdaltonc »

TheSpiceIsLife wrote: post #104
tdaltonc wrote: post #55

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Whether the random number is pulled before the hearing (picking just 1 judge instead of 3) or after (by picking one vote token at random) seems the same to me.

Maybe I'm missing what you're getting out? It seems like you're suggesting dispute resolution should have a "fuck it, let's flip a coin" option?

I'm saying that it kind of already does. Judges are picked for a case partially at random.
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