> As an aside, this is one reason why I'm so bearish on Web3 and smart contracts in general. The edge cases are so complex and possibly unknowable that codifying these, particularly on an immutable blockchain, to remove the need for human intervention seems doomed to failure.
I do think the potential for errors is currently real (people mess up simple wallet transfers all of the time) but it's reasonable to assume that big things and making them easy for normal people to use is going to take time.
It's easy to forget how ridiculously early into crypto humans still are. We're only about 14 years into the invention of crypto. We're only about 7 years since the release of Ethereum. The general public barely understands what crypto is other than having some conception of it as some kind of Internet money. Most people cannot discuss what a blockchain is, what smart contracts are, or why oracles are important. And forget the general public for a minute: even smart technical people on HN can barely give a good description of how all of these pieces work and fit together.
I do think the potential for errors is currently real (people mess up simple wallet transfers all of the time) but it's reasonable to assume that big things and making them easy for normal people to use is going to take time.
It's easy to forget how ridiculously early into crypto humans still are. We're only about 14 years into the invention of crypto. We're only about 7 years since the release of Ethereum. The general public barely understands what crypto is other than having some conception of it as some kind of Internet money. Most people cannot discuss what a blockchain is, what smart contracts are, or why oracles are important. And forget the general public for a minute: even smart technical people on HN can barely give a good description of how all of these pieces work and fit together.