[CRConrad]

How many votes does it take to appoint a notary?

If one or a few, I can set up a corrupt notary (or several) to notarize my fake deal with you.

If many, I can't get rid of the corrupt notary (or notaries) you have set up to notarize your fake deal with me.

Is either of these particularly great?

[kikimora]

I don't see your point. You attack an outline of a system. Fun system will be complex and I won't describe it here in full. In the same way as today notary appointment procedure is complex and involve multiple organisations.

I claim that blockchain solves Byzantine generals problem (BGP) in a scalable way and no other such solution exists. I also claim that this very problem (BGP) is being solved right now in multiple instances by using a trusted middleman, usually appointed, controlled and often funded by the government. I also claim that maintaining trust is not free and often paid from tax money (as in DVLA example). And my last claim that partial or full automation of a middleman function with blockchain is cheaper than running it traditional way (considering all costs involved).

Potentially unexpected corollary from the first and second claims - a software without blockchain cannot automate a trusted middleman function because of trust issues.

Feel free to attack any of the claims.

[CRConrad]

Why would I need to attack any of your claims, when one of them is that the "problem" you cryptards are getting your panties in a bunch about is already solved?