"An oracle, in the context of blockchains and smart contracts, is an agent that finds and verifies real-world occurrences and submits this information to a blockchain to be used by smart contracts." -https://blockchainhub.net/blockchain-oracles/

I believe that in the context of future blockchain protocols, oracle solutions will play a fundamental role and will be essential in ensuring trustworthy, autonomous intercommunication between the physical and digital worlds.

Look towards emerging IOT + blockchain solutions for some prime examples.

Blockchain oracles deserve much more attention, especially outside the context of Steemit.