The moment where I saw this was when someone asked me about smart contracts and said,
“smart contracts are not really contracts, because there’s no way to enforce them. When a contract says ‘make all reasonable effort,’ how does a smart contract account for that.”
At first, I agreed with her.
“You’re right, there is no way to enforce them.”
But then, it occurred to me that I was wrong. I was caught, for a moment, in a Phase 1 paradigm.
Sorry, I’m human.
“Actually, that’s not correct. There is a way to enforce them and here’s how it could work.”
Then I made the following argument.
Let’s say that I am accountable to a decentralized community for doing work with “reasonable effort.”
I submit evidence that I made such an effort (proof of calls, emails, blog posts, whatever) and request payment.
At that point, and admittedly this is more theory than practice right now, there would be a vote to determine whether I was worthy of the payment.
Now, let’s say that many members of the community, a majority in fact, thought I was worthy of the payment. They would vote yes.
However, let’s say that some of the biggest token holders, “the whales” decide that I am not, so they vote no.
In the end, I lose and I am not paid.
Looks like I have lost, right?
Well, maybe.
More detail: https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/what-enforcement-could-look-like-smart-contract-world-jeremy-epstein/