Social Smart Contracts

Humans have social contracts they engage in. These contracts can be modelled with language and then understood and executed by humans. Decentralized crypto technology can provide structure for supporting these contracts.

The general structure of modern systems of law is a good inspiration and analogy, although the decentralized version should be based only on contracts that are engaged in voluntarily.

Core Idea

Social Smart Contracts are stored and executed/managed on decentralized networks, similar to smart contracts on blockchains. The key difference is that the social aspect is lifted above the numerical and logical aspect:

Instead of confirming transactions and dealing with numerical values representing abstract structures, they document and verify social agreements and even complex material facts and their verification through human decision.

Key Components

Social Tokens: Used to track trust, reputation, and past behavior within the contract framework
Voluntary Engagement: Unlike state-imposed contracts, all social smart contracts are entered voluntarily
Human Verification: Complex facts are verified through human decision-making processes rather than purely algorithmic means
Dispute Resolution: Protocols for arbitration when contract fulfillment is contested

Relation to Governance

Social Smart Contracts provide the contractual foundation that Governance Engines formalize and automate. They bridge the gap between abstract blockchain logic and real human agreements.