Ethereum on Aeon
This article uses the Etherium case as a lens for examining the role of trust in human behavior. I especially like the British-accented audio narrations that Aeon uses.
By now, the answer should be obvious: it ends with other humans. Blockchains don’t offer us a trustless system, but rather a reassignment of trust. Instead of trusting our laws and institutions, we are being asked to trust stakeholders and miners, and programmers, and those who know enough coding to be able to verify the code. We aren’t actually trusting the blockchain technology; we are trusting the people that support the blockchain. The blockchain community is certainly new and different, and it talks a good game of algorithms and hashing power, which at least sounds better than tired slogans such as Prudential is rock solid and You are in good hands with Allstate. But miners aren’t necessarily any more reliable than the corporations they replace.
https://aeon.co/essays/trust-the-inside-story-of-the-rise-and-fall-of-ethereum
In other words, the blockchain is not magic (despite this picture).
http://www.arcturnus.com/ethereum-is-the-closest-thing-to-actual-magic-in-the-real-world/
It rather reminds me of this IGMS column I wrote over a year ago.
It turns out that humans are an unusually cooperative species, but mostly in small groups who know one another personally or by reputation (one or two degrees of separation). Our brains, unaided, seem to be capable of tracking relationships with an average of maybe 150 people. This is not because we are stupid. A relationship with another sentient being contains a large number of variables. Constantly updating those variables and negotiating personal cooperation, moment by moment, consumes a lot of time and energy. I have recent personal experience of the difficulties involved. At the end of July, my own family of three went on a driving tour of the American West. There were dozens of tasks, large and small, to be negotiated every day - putting up the tent, taking down the tent, packing the roof bag, choosing what attractions to visit and how long to stay, where to eat, what to eat, when to pee. It was a tiny window into the mind of a hunter-gatherer. Maintaining cooperation is incredibly important, and it's HARD.
http://www.intergalacticmedicineshow.com/cgi-bin/mag.cgi?do=columns&vol=randall_hayes&article=002
Then read the code.
Understand the code.
Mine the blocks.
Become the wizard.
So the answer is financial literacy? How's that working out in the current economy, when the people in charge spend a lot of their time deliberately making things more complicated, for the sole purpose of confusing and distracting everyone else? Do we really believe that won't happen with code, the same way it happens now with law?
That's why I only approve free, open-source code.
If I don't trust it, I must be free to read it.
If I don't like it, I must be free to edit it.
If I really don't like it, I must be free to fork it.
If all you can do is sit-back and believe, then you will be manipulated every single time by a conartist.
You need to go and learn how it works on a fundamental level.
You need to understand the systems you are using, or else you will be taken advantage of.
Knowledge and wisdom cannot be tossed aside, just because someone asks us to "have faith and believe in us and our code".
If you haven't looked at it yourself, then it's nothing but a black-box, and nothing is more dangerous than a black-box.
So, again, everyone has to learn to read code? That seems unrealistic in the short term. The general public is not really literate in science/medicine, or economics, or law, although as a society we're undoubtedly more literate in all of those areas than we were a couple hundred years ago.
We have to rely on trusted specialists in all of those areas, because of the time and effort required to become literate. I'm scientifically literate, and economically semi-so, but I know very little about the law. Can we really expect every single person to just know everything s/he needs to know to run a complex society? Are you an expert in all fields, or only in code?
I agree that a skeptical attitude is necessary, but necessary is not sufficient.
If you are unwilling to understand the software you are using, then whatever ends up happening is because of negligence on your part. You can't blame other people if you're unwilling to make sure the things you are using are safe.
If you can trust organizations to monitor software, or check for viruses, or other threats, do so, but without checking for yourself, you will not ever truly know.
Your justifications are valid, but they don't make your case.
Like owning a car, it is wise to understand the internals.
Otherwise you are helpless if it breaks, as well as having no idea how a car works.
Do you really want a society where everyone is an idiot, except at one thing? That sort of vision you have sounds dark, and uninspired.
This world isn't some sort of corporate nightmare unless you want it to be. It's completely possible to live a simple life, learning many complex hobbies and skills. There's simply no reason to dedicate yourself to only one thing, when you can still dedicate yourself to a thing, but also learn other things.
But still, even if you are unwilling, we all know that it's possible to learn more than just one language as a child. Just encouraging our children to understand how to read code can perhaps save us from a technological apocalypse.
I just urge you to fight harder, instead of telling me it's too hard or too complicated.
Looks like some folks have a different long term goal in mind for the blockchain and YOUR True monetary and post values.
https://steemit.com/abuse/@iloveupvotes/this-is-the-operation-going-on-behind-your-back-and-all-the-people-that-fund-this-theft-ring
Watch as they flag even this comment to silence the truth from you.
Looks like some folks have a different long term goal in mind for the blockchain and YOUR True monetary and post values.
https://steemit.com/abuse/@iloveupvotes/this-is-the-operation-going-on-behind-your-back-and-all-the-people-that-fund-this-theft-ring
Watch as they flag even this comment to silence the truth from you.