[scottdw2]

There's an interesting split here: between contract validation, contract enforcement.

Both have typically been handled by courts.

Contract validation is typically very "human centric". It centers on questions such as "what is a bargain?" or "is this result acceptable to the conscience (I.e. is morally acceptable)".

Contract enforcement, however, is much more formulaic. Given a valid contract, and a series of events (leading to a breach), quantify what relief would look like.

I don't think validity can be automated. It's analogous to Dijkstra's obsession with "formal verification".

However, most contracts are valid. They typically involve genuine negotiations on reasonable terms.

Assuming validation, enforcement is easily automated.

I don't think bit coin is relevant though. For automated contract enforcement any payment API will work. Wether it's bit coin, or paypal in Estonian Kroon, the important part is automation.

[wyager]

>I don't think bit coin is relevant though. For automated contract enforcement any payment API will work. Wether it's bit coin, or paypal in Estonian Kroon, the important part is automation.

Maybe you're not seeing the really important part of this; these contracts are cryptographically guaranteed. Any contract managed by Paypal is subject to human error, hacking, government interference, etc. It's not just automation; it's deterministic, mathematical, perfect automation.

[scottdw2]

Something like that may work for digital goods.

You deliver some digital assets, the key to which can only be derived if a particular crypto currency transaction is performed.

But if you are delivering physical goods, there's going to be some human aspect to it.

Some human, somewhere, is going to deliver the good to some other human.

I'm not discounting the idea of automated contract enforcement. I think contract enforcement is really inefficient. Finding a way to automate it seems like it could be useful. That's the niche paypal originally filled (providing escrow services for ebay transactions). If you could find a way to automate such things, so that everywhere you currently see a "standard service" contract nowadays you had someone clicking on a button (and maybe entering a credit card number), it seems like it could be disruptive. Kind of like a Google App engine for executing contract logic.

I'm just not sure that bit coin is central to the whole thing.

The whole "free from government interference" thing is a bit of a fallacy. If the government wants to seize your bit coins, they will find a way. It may be difficult for them to manipulate the price of bit coin, and to implement wholesale theft (stealing everyone's bit coins), but seizure of a specific individual's bit coins is definitely possible. They'll find a way.

Maybe some form of contracts, like options trading, might work. Equity funding of startups might work too. Basically anything that's purely digital.

But I don't think that any contract involving physical goods can be rendered mathematically perfect.