Road from SteemFest4: Smart Contracts are automated bureaucracy.

avatar
(Edited)

On my way home from SteemFest4, I stopped to give a lecture at Chengdu University 成都大学 about Digital Media Arts and Blockchain. I wanted to keep things very high level so that future leaders will be able to think clearly about the possibilities and limitations of blockchain.

As a high level concept it is common to think about blockchain (and DLTs) as a shared store of truth. We need a similarly high level concept to describe a smart contract. I came up with:

Smart Contracts are automated bureaucracy.

I like this phrase because it describes what smart contracts are best suited for and doesn't pretend that smart contracts are a substitute for governance. We will still need governance to oversee, change and decide on new smart contracts.

Smart contracts have the potential to lower friction, such as reducing time, cost and inconvenience. Lowered friction will lead to more innovation because more activities will be lowered than the friction threshold.

I was asked two questions. The first from a student who I have known for 3 years. She asked about job losses. We don't actually know. But, there has never been a technological revolution in history that resulted in fewer jobs. Yes, there were painful adjustments and some types of jobs disappeared. Many clerical positions will go. Jobs that involve creativity, culture, personal services, higher maths, science and engineering will do well. That seems like a net win for humanity imo. When I was at this University 3 years ago I was asked a similar question about AI and back then I said that human experiences will become more important. I still believe that.

The second question was from a student concerned about privacy if all information was available on the internet. The Chinese government has already indicated that they are considering consortium blockchains. This allows for better access control over private data where it is desired without having privacy concerns hamper or slow use cases where privacy is less of a concern.

The rest of the talk was about possibilities specific to media arts. I'll write about those if people are interested. I felt my talk was perhaps still too advanced for the audience but I did hear students outside discussing the topic with each other. Perhaps I should improve my Mandarin and deliver the speech in Chinese instead.

Overall though, I am happy coming up with the term automated bureaucracy. Right now, I am waiting for my flight home.

Until next time.

palnet smartcontract automatedbureaucracy cdu partiko
0
0
0.000
16 comments
avatar

A member bonus $trendotoken tip for @eturnerx from MAXUV!
Also consider our MAPR fund and MAPXV vote bonds too.
MAP Steem Fintech: growing your STEEM without SP.

0
0
0.000
Reply
avatar

Enjoy a $trendotoken from MAPX! Please also take a look at @MAPXV and @MAXUV as MAPX tokens almost run out.

0
0
0.000
Reply
avatar

Yes I agree, the phase fits well with my present understanding.

We will still need governance to oversee, change and decide on new smart contracts.

And this too. So perhaps we'll be doing less of the grunt work / admin and as long as governance is in place the contract can do the heavy lifting.

Have a safe flight home :)

0
0
0.000
Reply
avatar

To listen to the audio version of this article click on the play image.

Brought to you by @tts. If you find it useful please consider upvoting this reply.

0
0
0.000
Reply
avatar

Hi @eturnerx, a small upvote and a tip from the ADDAX trading game! Round 2 has closed - Round 3 to start soon.
$trendotoken

0
0
0.000
Reply
avatar

Hi @eturnerx, a free $trendotoken from the TULIP Mania Game!
Round 3 will start soon and full details will follow. Thanks for playing!

0
0
0.000
Reply
avatar

Thank you so much for participating in the Partiko Delegation Plan Round 1! We really appreciate your support! As part of the delegation benefits, we just gave you a 3.00% upvote! Together, let’s change the world!

0
0
0.000
Reply
avatar

Hi @eturnerx!

Your post was upvoted by @steem-ua, new Steem dApp, using UserAuthority for algorithmic post curation!
Your UA account score is currently 4.981 which ranks you at #1173 across all Steem accounts.
Your rank has not changed in the last three days.

In our last Algorithmic Curation Round, consisting of 103 contributions, your post is ranked at #81.

Evaluation of your UA score:
  • Some people are already following you, keep going!
  • You have already convinced some users to vote for your post, keep trying!
  • Try to work on user engagement: the more people that interact with you via the comments, the higher your UA score!

Feel free to join our @steem-ua Discord server

0
0
0.000
Reply
avatar

I supppose when you look at smart contracts relates to creativity, then it is indeed an opportunity to push the humans to be the ones who thinks out of the box; and let the machines do their bidding.

That should actually be the case. Because technology is created by humans, and they are the tools; while humans who has the natural ability to build, create, and expand, should always be challenged to live out of the robotic mundane system .

I still do not think every single thing can be replaced by techonlogy till severe job loss. There are still some things that requires the human touch to it (besides building technology framework)

0
0
0.000
Reply
avatar

Hey @eturnerx the term "automated bureaucracy" will be in my mind from now on....

This fits so well and therefore a bit of !BEER from me.

0
0
0.000
Reply
avatar

Congratulations @eturnerx! You have completed the following achievement on the Steem blockchain and have been rewarded with new badge(s) :

You distributed more than 22000 upvotes. Your next target is to reach 23000 upvotes.

You can view your badges on your Steem Board and compare to others on the Steem Ranking
If you no longer want to receive notifications, reply to this comment with the word STOP

Vote for @Steemitboard as a witness to get one more award and increased upvotes!
0
0
0.000
Reply