Читать книгу Cryptocurrency All-in-One For Dummies - Peter Kent, Kiana Danial - Страница 148

Ethereum smart contracts are like contractual agreements, except there is no central party to enforce the contract. The Ethereum protocol “enforces” smart contracts by attaching economic pressure. They can also enforce implementation of a requirement if it lives within Ethereum, because Ethereum can prove certain conditions were or were not met. If it doesn’t live within Ethereum, it’s much harder to enforce.

Ethereum smart contracts are not yet legally enforceable and may never be because the perception is that you don’t need outside authorities enforcing agreements. Legal systems are controlled by governments. As they stand now, governments are central authorities — some with more or less consent and democratic principles. Within an Ethereum smart contract, each participant has an inalienable vote.

Ethereum smart contracts do not include artificial intelligence. This is a cool possibility in the near future. But for now, Ethereum is just software code that runs on a blockchain.

Ethereum smart contracts are not safe. The DAO hack is a great example of the type of dangers that can occur. It is still early days, and putting a lot of money into an unproven system isn’t smart. Instead, experiment with small amounts until all the bugs have been worked out of new contracts.