[kccqzy]

Well previously when stock trades involved exchanging physical certificates, I could imagine that ownership could evaporate if you lost that piece of paper. Or just think about cash: you do lose that ownership when you lose that magical piece of paper. It's a simpler world when what you have physically determines what you own.

[toomuchtodo]

People want a just world (imho, n=1, based on all available evidence, etc), recourse, and protections, not a simple world. Interestingly, cash will likely be the last to go in the near future from a “possession of value” as the world goes cashless (although whether this is "good" or "bad" can be argued in another thread).

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cashless_society

[jrkatz]

Physical certificates are not a thing of the past and can be restored upon loss or destruction: https://www.investor.gov/introduction-investing/investing-ba...

[josephcsible]

If the deed to land or the title to a car gets destroyed, what happens? It doesn't suddenly forever become unownable.