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by gomox 3654 days ago
For example, a smart contract might withhold $100 from an account, and grant whoever owns the private key to that account access to open a lock. When the user is done using the resource (say, a shared car or apartment or locker), he can request his money back (minus a fee for using the resource) which would render him unable to use the resource anymore (i.e. open the lock).

Basically the equivalent of a credit card collateral on a rental, minus the credit card company.
1 comments
homogeneous 3654 days ago
> Basically the equivalent of a credit card collateral on a rental, minus the credit card company.

I just don't see how a smart contract is helpful here since you're still relying on the owner of the resource to relinquish your funds when they are satisfied that you have returned their property in the condition they rented it to you. Whether you use cash, credit card, bitcoins or eth the power dynamics remain the same because it's ultimately up to the owner to say "ok, everything looks good, you can have your deposit back now".

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dragonwriter 3654 days ago
Yeah, basically any time a smart contract involves anything that isn't a digital commodity (currency or otherwise) on the same platform, you run into that kind of problem, AFAICT.
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homogeneous 3654 days ago
So it seems to me as well, and even when you're dealing with most kinds of digital commodities, I don't see how a smart contract is helpful. Say I bought some software from valve or microsoft or whoever; I pay (with fiat or crypto) download, install and run, if it does not function or is totally different from what is advertised, I can ask for a refund and either the merchant will honor my request or they won't, but a smart contract cannot codify this type of arrangement.

I don't want to sound like a hater, and I think as a developer it seems pretty cool that you can start receiving funds on the web without relying on a 3rd party gatekeeper, but it seems like smart contracts have pretty limited uses (not that they are useless, just very specialized)

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gomox 3654 days ago
A locker wouldn't have that problem, as there is nothing to break. Public bikes in many big cities don't have that problem either (i.e. there's no assessment of the returned bike). A smart car doesn't have to have it either (sensors in the car could detect crashes, for example, and interiors could be built to be tough, like many public cars already - see Paris' AutoLib).
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homogeneous 3654 days ago
> A locker wouldn't have that problem, as there is nothing to break.

There is also no need for collateral or a smart contract in this scenario.

> Public bikes in many big cities don't have that problem either (i.e. there's no assessment of the returned bike).

How does a smart contract improve over the current system?

> A smart car doesn't have to have it either (sensors in the car could detect crashes, for example, and interiors could be built to be tough, like many public cars already - see Paris' AutoLib)

How does a smart contract help?

In all of your examples a smart contract doesn't add anything to the equation because the merchant (or the merchant's automated centralized systems) already have the authority and capability to relinquish deposited funds.

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