In a message dated 11/11/00 5:18:35 PM Central Standard Time,
wingcat@pacbell.net writes:
> I wonder if it would be possible to come up with inexpensive, similar
> guards for illegal actions, where the problem is big enough that the
> methods currently used to prevent these actions (for instance, avoiding
> uniformed police at all costs in order to avoid police abuse) is far
> from inexpensive (many societal costs of people not trusting the police
> - whether the police earn that mistrust or not - are rather obvious,
> when looked at as such). If it becomes literally impossible to violate
> the law, then "enforcing" the law becomes moot. (Which would make the
> issue of making sure the law is just and fair even more important, but
> that's another topic...)
This is the basic idea behind "smart contracts", pioneered by extropian Nick
Szabo:
http://www.best.com/~szabo/smart_contracts_idea.html
Greg Burch <GBurch1@aol.com>----<gburch@lockeliddell.com>
Attorney ::: Vice President, Extropy Institute ::: Wilderness Guide
http://users.aol.com/gburch1 -or- http://members.aol.com/gburch1
ICQ # 61112550
"We never stop investigating. We are never satisfied that we know
enough to get by. Every question we answer leads on to another
question. This has become the greatest survival trick of our species."
-- Desmond Morris
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