Editor's note:Editor's note:Thomas Hobbeshttps://baike.baidu.com/item/Thomas Hobbs/3086013Hasuimage description
Article thinking brain map
As a new social and economic structure, Bitcoin is very different from the current traditional institutional system. Before we can trust its value, we should question it and peek at the underlying problems behind Bitcoin. Over time, answers to some of these questions may emerge (orLindy effectLindy effecthttps://baike.baidu.com/item/social contract theory/12762037?fr=aladdin。
social contract theory
First, fiat money is the result of a social contract—the people endowing the state with control over the issuance, supply, and other functions of money. In turn, states use their empowered powers to govern the economy, distribute wealth, and fight crime, among other things. Admittedly, many people don't realize that Bitcoin also works through a social contract.
secondary title
Social Contract Theory
Social Contract TheoryLeviathan（https://baike.baidu.com/item/Leviathan/4317112?fr=aladdin
like a country with an absolute monarchy). Sovereignty is the essence of a country, and the rights of the sovereign are absolute and indivisible. Subjects must be absolutely obedient to the sovereign, but it also emphasizes that the role of the state is to protect personal safety.
This political theory is not limited to describing the relationship between people and the state, and the thinking in it is also applicable to economics. When there are enough people who are dissatisfied with the simple barter exchange, in order to get rid of this state, they can sign a contract to reach an agreement, and use money, credit funds, etc. to improve the quality of the transaction.https://baike.baidu.com/item/Schelin point/8118806?fr=aladdinor social contract.
secondary title
Money as a social contract
Throughout history, most of the national government agencies that control currencies have gradually become abusers of power - they confiscated people's accounts; prohibited certain people or groups from conducting transactions; issued excess currency and caused hyperinflation.https://baike.baidu.com/item/ commodity currencycommodity currency
, while retaining the good parts (having a common medium of exchange, uniform store of value, and unit of account).
The larger the social system, the greater its value, and the more attractive it is for others to control it. This is the lesson taught by money.
Whether it is commodity currency or banknotes endorsed by the state, we can see that in the state of nature, although there are natural laws to regulate, but if human beings want to get rid of the hostile situation between people, they must find ways to make everyone fear and guide their actions. Public power for common interests and social contracts are the only way for human beings to get out of the state of nature. But the resulting social contract is only as strong as it is credible. Without a stable institution to enforce it, the social contract will collapse without the trust of the populace.
secondary title
bitcoin rules
When Satoshi Nakamoto invented Bitcoin, he didn't invent a new social contract. Satoshi Nakamoto did the opposite, using technology to solve many problems that occurred in the past, and continue to perform the contract in a more advantageous way. He established the following rules:
Only Bitcoin holders can create signatures and make transactions (forfeiture resistance);
Anyone can trade and store Bitcoin without permission (censorship resistance);
All users can verify Bitcoin rules (anti-counterfeiting);
secondary title
Bitcoin as a new form of social system
The larger the scale of a social system, the greater its value, and the more attractive it is for others to control it. This is the lesson that currency teaches us. Therefore, the system needs to be protected, i.e. the powerful entity, the state, becomes its shelter. Over time, the protective powers entrusted to the state can evolve into control and then into abuse. And when people lose trust in state institutions, they are replaced by a new one. Go round and round, go round and round.
Satoshi Nakamoto tried to break this vicious cycle in two ways - first, instead of relying on a powerful entity (such as a government) for security, Bitcoin created a highly competitive market for self-preservation. This market system turns security into a commodity and security providers (miners) into powerless commodity producers; secondly, Satoshi finds a way for these competing security providers to be Agree on who owns what.The Bitcoin protocol automates the contracts reached on the social layer, and the social layer determines the specific rules of Bitcoin based on the consensus of users. They are mutually symbiotic and indispensable.
Think of Bitcoin as a social contract, driven by the underlying technology to enable automation. From this point of view, it can help us look at Bitcoin from a philosophical perspective.
secondary title
Who Can Change the Rules of Bitcoin?
The contract rules are constantly being revised and formulated at the social layer, and the implementation of the Bitcoin protocol only automates the old social contract. As a child of the internet, when enough people enabled a bitcoin client on their local computers, running the same rules (which could be considered to speak the same language), bitcoin was born.
Users can "walk" in the Bitcoin network as long as they are consistent with the Bitcoin rules run by others. If the Bitcoin rules are unilaterally changed on a user's local computer, it will not affect the rest of the network. But because the other user no longer understands each other (speaks another language), the user is kicked out.. Because only when enough people actively aggregate the modification proposals into their local rule sets, a consensus is reached and the modification proposals are confirmed. The process required convincing millions of people, which effectively ruled out any controversial changes. These revisions are often "stillborn" because they cannot obtain a broad social consensus. With this mechanism, Bitcoin can be upgraded in a way that reflects the collective will of its members, while also being able to adapt to changes by bad actors.
secondary title
Will a Software Bug Kill Bitcoin?
In September 2018, a vulnerability in the Bitcoin Core software client Bitcoin Core was discovered. There are two potential attack vectors for this vulnerability - the vulnerability could be used to shut down parts of the Bitcoin network. If exploited, an attacker can use it to attack other clients (making it impossible to authenticate). In severe cases, it may even cause the Bitcoin network to crash. There are miners who run mining software and process transactions on the Bitcoin network, and even take advantage of this vulnerability by double-spending transactions (destroying inflation resistance).
After the vulnerability broke out, Bitcoin developers fixed it by updating the Bitcoin rules, thereby closing the above-mentioned attack angles. Although the vulnerability was discovered in time and was not exploited by attackers, it caused an uproar in the Bitcoin community: what would happen if a malicious actor discovered this vulnerability first? What if there are other hidden holes in the code now? Will Bitcoin Rules Finally Lose Trust?
From the perspective of social contract theory, the answer is no. The rules of Bitcoin are based on the social layer, and the software can only be automated. When there is a disagreement between the social contract and the protocol layer, the protocol layer is often wrong. The failure of the protocol layer to implement the specific rules of the contract will not have a permanent impact on the timeliness of the contract itself.
Bitcoin token itself has no value, and the value exists in the social layer.
Instead, potential vulnerabilities can be fixed by restructuring the blockchain to remove the damage caused by the attacker. This outcome would split the Bitcoin network in two, each with its own token, and one with a vulnerability. Every bitcoin holder owns an equal number of tokens in both networks, and the value of these tokens is determined entirely by the market, i.e. how much the next person is willing to pay.
When the Bitcoin software automates the rules of the social contract, the social and protocol layers are in sync. When the software is momentarily out of sync, the social contract will "step up and run the show." The vulnerability explosion in September is certainly not the last one, but the social contract theory can provide protection for it, that is, the vulnerability may occur, but it will not threaten the social system of Bitcoin.
secondary title
Will a Bitcoin Fork Endanger the No-Inflation Rule?
Another philosophical question revolves around the concept of forks. Since the Bitcoin software is open source, it allows users to verify that its set of rules "talks the talk." Anyone can copy the code and modify it, which is called "forking". But these changes are only for the protocol layer, not the social layer. Without changing the rules of the social layer, the only outcome for a Bitcoin fork is to remove itself from the Bitcoin network.
secondary title
Summarize
Summarize
