E-conscience and the shackles of freedom - the prospects and dangers of creating a global reputation system

The modern financial and legal system everywhere engenders corruption, which is one of the most acute problems on a planetary scale, as well as all kinds of injustice, lies, manipulations, frauds and many other vices. However, in the bowels of the Internet, concepts and technologies are ripening that provide the prerequisites for building a new fairer financial and legal system. From our point, it is not yet clear how the entire system can be replaced, although it is obvious how new, more effective institutions can be created, analogues of which did not exist in the past. They are not punitive, but they encourage people to be honest, responsible, friendly and helpful to society.
Today, there are all the necessary technical capabilities to build a real meritocratic society in which elites are formed on the basis of real personal merit. Where respect, power, honor and authority are inextricably linked with each other and simultaneously disappear at the first attempt to abuse this moral capital.
Our movement unites people of different cultures, philosophies, worldviews, nationalities and political positions from Orthodox Christians to atheists and post-humanists. Our actions do not imply any struggle, violence or coercion. We DO NOT fight the existing system and DO NOTinterfere with her work. We simply create a “parallel reality” and believe that people themselves will want to “move” there. However, they are not required to sever ties with the current system. On the contrary, the existing system will benefit from our activities and is becoming more efficient and fair.



I ask you to take everything written below as an exercise in creativity, and not as something very serious. Although I personally sincerely believe in all this, it’s not at all necessary for you, which is why I publish this article in the hubs of cyberpunk and science fiction. I am very interested in any opinions, ideas, arguments and any constructive criticism.

The chain as a symbol of freedom - an overview of key technology

Blockchain technology (from the English block chain , we will use this term to refer to systems with similar properties, for example Ripple ) is a key innovation that allows registering the widest list of events with the maximum available reliability at the moment without involving a central administrative and bureaucratic body, which eliminates from the need to trust him. (If you have an idea about this technology and are well acquainted with the conclusions about the prospects for its application and development, you will not lose much if you immediately go to the next part, which describes the essence of our project.) In other words, blockchain is the most reliable accounting registry, known to modern humanity. The information entered there once is practically impossible to delete or distort either by administrative or technical means. This is a distributed database based on open source open-source. It has no center, it belongs to everyone and to nobody in particular. She does not have a master who can be bribed, or who can twist her hands. It is impossible to capture and almost impossible to destroy. It is better protected from hacking and tampering than accounts with the most reliable banks in the world. And what’s extremely important - everyone is equal before her, no one can receive exclusive rights and privileges in it. Thus, this system does not just declare, butprovides true equality .
On the basis of the blockchain, any currently known registration actions can be performed:


At the same time, the level of protection against falsification of current paper documents is not comparable with the level that the blockchain can provide.
One of the well-known examples of the use of the blockchain is the voting system, which can unambiguously register for whom the votes of the participants are given, as well as the fact of preliminary granting each participant the right to vote. No one can vote instead of a participant if he does not take possession of his private cryptographic key. The results of such a vote cannot be falsified. And for the voting does not require the Central Election Commission, precinct commissions and numerous observers. Although certainly blockchain is not a panacea, it does not protect against voter bribery, administrative pressure on them or brainwashing. More information about the various areas of application of the blockchain can be found here and here .
Blockchain economically and functionally surpasses all currently widely applicable registration methods. When using it, there is no need to maintain an army of bureaucrats who, moreover, do poorly with their duties, create red tape and all kinds of obstacles, and are also the main source of corruption. And the costs of creating and maintaining the blockchain infrastructure are ridiculously small compared to the costs of maintaining the current system that performs the same functions, only much worse.

But in addition to the fact that the blockchain is a very effective tool for carrying out tasks that were poorly poorly solved before it appeared, the prospects and potential capabilities of this tool in no way come down to these tasks. Already, the theoretical possibilities have been worked out to create on the basis of the blockchain many very important financial and legal instruments of the future. An example is Smart Contracts and Decentralized Autonomous Organizations. This technology is in its infancy today, and at the moment it is difficult to predict what other opportunities and institutions can be created on its basis. But what has already been worked out looks very promising.
In essence, these are automatically executed laws and contracts written in the language of program code - a new incorruptible legal system. The Code in the truest sense of the word is a law that is executed according to certain rules. Algorithms, being correctly designed and verified, today can act as an impartial arbiter of any transactions, and, therefore, ultimately, a fair and beneficial guarantor for the majority, devoid of the destructive erosion of human egoism.

Blockchain, in its essence, is an instrument of truth; it simply impartially registers information along with a note about who and at what moment brought it there. Bitcoin, for example, keeps a history of all valid transactions. But the list of recorded events with the development of technology is constantly growing, and in the future we are likely to have a very detailed and extremely reliable record of the entire historical process. The ideal blockchain in this sense is a global cryptographic record - a database in which in the form of ID of all conceivable entities (people, things, animals, content ...) and links provided with hash sums to any documentary evidence of events and relations of these entities, the reflection of objective reality is preserved. This excludes the possibility of “rewriting” even the smallest details of history.
Yes, a system in which each thing has its own unique identification number, where each thing is counted, causes superstitious horror . But can this really be taken as a serious argument for remaining in the world of total lies? Can there be any constructive forces that advocate lying against the truth? And what could be the arguments of opponents of the truth?

Mankind has already gotten on the Internet, and now under the motto of freedom we will shackle it there forever with a chain of blocks, assigning each person and thing a unique number in the global concentration camp. But in reality, unique identifiers like TIN and SNILS are generously distributed even without a blockchain. The question today is only whether the guards in this concentration camp will be corrupt, that is, they will have exclusive rights and benefit from the lack of equality. Or they will be the same equal prisoners of the same concentration camp and, being in a common harness, will strive for the common good. Since it will be possible to improve one's own position only by improving the position of all at once.

Electronic conscience

Introduction

Connections solve everything, but connections conceal a lot of potential problems contained in the notorious “human factor”. Thanks to the Internet, unprecedented opportunities have been created in the countryside for establishing connections that provide unlimited opportunities for the implementation of the most ambitious projects. However, today only a tiny fraction of this potential can be utilized. In the modern world, there is a global deficit of trust, which immensely impedes the development of society. Having solved this problem, mankind can actualize this limitless potential, which will undoubtedly bring it to a qualitatively new level.
Blockchain technology allows us to fully solve this problem, and it is in this that we see its main value.
The crisis of confidence did not arise from scratch, it is an organic fabric of the modern system that motivates people to immoral behavior. In the current school, if not in the elementary, then in the higher one, they no longer teach goodness and justice, everything is subject to economic indicators, the emphasis is on creating “effective managers” who can breed and stew without a twinge of conscience. The current capitalist system exploits a whole series of human vices (vanity, greed, lies, selfishness) and literally finances their development, which cannot have a beneficial effect on society.
We offer an incentive system in which honesty is beneficial. This tool can once and for all solve the question of trust between people wherever there is access to the Internet. With its help, strangers at the first meeting will be able to establish reliable trusting relationships.

Basic principles

1. This is a system of mass reputation, the basic element of which is a system of reviews and ratings, which has a number of very important features, thanks to which the highest degree of its reliability is achieved:
2. Registration in the system occurs solely through personal identification, so a person has one reputation for life. Re-registration in the system is excluded.
3. The feedback system is based on the registration of contractual relations, where counterparties are able to evaluate each other only after registering a transaction based on mutual agreement of the parties. That is, no one can write a review to someone who, for his part, has not previously registered his voluntary consent to enter into an agreement and assume certain obligations.
4. The system is based on the blockchain, and for this reason is incorruptible and not falsifiable. Once the information got there cannot be deleted or changed.

Thanks to these principles, a very high degree of trust between people is ensured. Before you enter into a contractual relationship with someone, you can in one click get a selection of the most dubious moments in the history of the relationship of this person with his former partners and make an informed decision whether to do it.


It is important to note that reputation is a history of relationships, which in no case can be fully expressed by a numerical rating. The example under the spoiler illustrates very clearly how inadequate the numerical expression of reputation can be.


The system makes it possible to see, the basis for the transaction, counter reviews of counterparties published on the basis of this transaction, while we can see not only the author of the review, but also his reputation.
The conclusion of the transaction is a guarantee based on the highest degree of responsibility - from that moment on, each party is responsible for its fulfillment of its obligations with its lifelong reputation. If something goes wrong, then a negative review will accompany the person who received it for life, and it will also be available to any potential partner in one click. Everyone will see him, with whom from now on they will have to deal. A published review, whether positive or negative, cannot be deleted. The only way to rectify the situation is to seek reconciliation, so that the person who wrote the negative review adds to it with positive content.
But in reality, no one is interested in giving negative ratings in this system, since it is very likely that the person who wrote the negative review will receive the same rating in response. Thus, this system motivates people in every possible way to avoid conflicts, and for this the best strategy is the psychological attitude to always be honest, responsible, friendly and attentive to your partner. It is pointless to enter into such a system with malicious intent, including, for example, hidden clauses in the contract - in this case you will have to pay for a one-time benefit with a lifetime stigma of shame. Making a deal in this system is a sign of goodwill that people demonstrate to each other in this way.
There is always a certain balance in contractual relations: on the one hand, there is a conflict of interests, and on the other, there is a place for mutual benefit. The core value of the system is not that it enables retaliation or punishment of delinquent members. It sets people up for conflict-free and conscientious behavior, so that, based on the results of cooperation, each side feels a sense of satisfaction, gratitude, and a desire to continue relationships or recommend each other to someone else ... This system does not commit any violence - the attackers themselves will expel themselves from it.

Areas of use

Reputation systems with similar logic have been successfully used in online auctions and freelance exchanges for many years, where this scheme has fully proved its worth. In recent years, it has found application in a variety of Internet services of various industries, from private rental to private car rental. It is relevant wherever people need trust for successful interaction - due to the elimination of risks, many schemes that otherwise turn out to be insolvent become beneficial.
But unlike the existing ones, our system should in no case be closed within the framework of any one service. This system alone is hardly needed by anyone, but it can be built into many sites and applications of various services and communities, including those that are difficult to think about now. It is not a business, but has countless commercial applications.
Now the reputation accumulated within one site is not transferable to others, such information is the capital of large players, and they naturally do not want to share it. This situation can be called reputation slavery, when a person’s reputation is appropriated by the service within which it was accumulated. This monopoly strongly restrains the development of fruitful communications and generates a certain irresponsibility. In the case of Electronic Conscience, it is quite obvious that the system should be created in such a way as to easily integrate into any services without restrictions, as is done with payment systems. That is, any online store could install a module, thanks to which site visitors can see its reputation and receive a guarantee of fulfillment of obligations through the conclusion of a transaction. The same goes for community sites, where users could come with their reputation, and not accumulate it for years. On the other hand, there would be no place on the Internet where a person could escape from the consequences of his irresponsible behavior.

Of course, this system can be applied wherever there is a contractual relationship. First of all, it is applicable for any type of service. Historically, the concept of E-Conscience was born precisely from this sphere, from the realization that the principle of freelance exchanges is extremely relevant for any type of service. For all services when choosing performers, there are problems of “cats in bags” and responsibility for promises generously given by sales managers of these services. So the site was created Sarafan.net, where everyone can announce a tender for any services he needs, forcing service providers to fight for their order, offering the best prices. A tendering system in combination with a reputation allows consumers to receive the highest quality services at the lowest possible prices. At the same time, service providers become all the more popular and competitive, the higher quality services they provide. This is a system of the most intense and at the same time fair competition.
We are going to use Sarafan.netas a training ground in order to break in the reputation system before creating a full-fledged version based on the blockchain. The site was created back in 2010, but no resources were found for its promotion. Nevertheless, a full-fledged analogue, where one could rely on any services from renting premises to the services of doctors or tour operators based on reputation, still does not exist - the YouDo similar service, known to many, does not allow this. In addition, we hope that it will become a platform for a wide variety of joint consumption schemes .

In any case, a service exchange is just a private use of a reputation system, the existence of which is at least a great basis for the plot of a science fiction novel. This is a world in which no one wants to deceive anyone. And the point is not that all at once became altruists, but because it is simply not profitable. Everyone wants their partners to always be satisfied with them. By registering a relationship with someone in such a system, you can, without worrying, give a stranger almost any amount of debt or let him spend the night in his house. The arbitrariness of the employer who does not want to pay salaries is excluded here. Or, for example, buying a car with one’s hands, you can take the seller’s word and be sure that he has absolutely no reason to deceive you. And not that so that these people cannot get away from you anywhere - they cannot get away from their reputation, which is in your hands, and next to the loss of which any material benefits fade. In a society with a transparent reputation, it will be extremely difficult to even spend money if their owner has seriously tarnished their reputation, because instead of paying for services, such a person can deceive you. In such a society, competitive advertising will certainly disappear - who will believe in the empty fables of advertising booklets that extol the imaginary virtues, when you can see the real reputation and get a guarantee, through the ability to influence it. And those funds that were spent on advertising will be aimed at improving the quality or lowering the price, which is definitely more beneficial for society than clogging their brains with continuous washing. The one who does well is popular here, not the one who shouts the loudest about it. But a good reputation is not just PR, but the main capital. And it’s not even so important that it monetizes very well, although it is not for sale. The important thing is that reputation is the basis of respect, authority, honor and power.

Reputation as the basis of power

Power here is most directly linked to reputation. For example, the now-hated tax service is being transformed into a magnificent and beloved liturgy institution, which in its essence resembles a crowdfunding site. Any citizen can offer their initiatives and projects on this site, the implementation of which can be useful for society. Each taxpayer in this system has a personal account, which receives funds from tax deductions. In accordance with a certain proportion, parts of these funds should be spent on projects of different levels: federal, regional, city, and yard. People according to their preferences at each level choose projects and finance them from their tax deductions. That is, taxes are not withdrawn from a person, but he himself invests them in that part of the public domain, in which he sees the meaning that he and his loved ones need. Thus, for example, the yard will be equipped with non-idiotic, uncomfortable, dangerous and expensive swings, which the officials set in order to think less and cut the budget more. This will be a creative act: the initiator of the project will put his soul into it, offer an original, budgetary and effective design, which, among other interesting solutions and alternatives presented for the competition, will be deliberately chosen by the end users for themselves and their children. And besides that, the project leader, of course, will be responsible for the implementation of this project with his reputation. Those people who invested their taxes in this project have the right to evaluate the result. No one else has the right to do so. In this case, the assessment is compiled as the arithmetic average taking into account the specific weight of investments - the person’s voice is taken into account in proportion to his share of the funds invested in the project. Thus, any infrastructure can be created: roads, schools, hospitals, funded scientific research, space flights ... The main thing is that people find them useful and be motivated to invest in them. Also, taxpayers can create funds to solve some problems, this is necessary if the proposed projects do not close certain problems. Thus, people show the relevance of existing problems and encourage people to look for solutions to them. funded scientific research, space flights ... The main thing is that people find them useful and be motivated to invest in them. Also, taxpayers can create funds to solve some problems, this is necessary if the proposed projects do not close certain problems. Thus, people show the relevance of existing problems and encourage people to look for solutions to them. funded scientific research, space flights ... The main thing is that people find them useful and be motivated to invest in them. Also, taxpayers can create funds to solve some problems, this is necessary if the proposed projects do not close certain problems. Thus, people show the relevance of existing problems and encourage people to look for solutions to them.

This is a project of power initiatives, where power really and implicitly serves the people. Each person can enter power by proposing a project or heading a project proposed by others, if the generator of the idea was not motivated to do it on their own. But a person receives power and resources for their implementation from other people who, by their own means, evaluate the usefulness of his initiative in comparison with other proposed alternatives. Moreover, you can only once abuse the trust of people. It is unlikely that people will believe a person for the second time who will raise funds and present an unsatisfactory result.
People come here not just with populist slogans, but with specific projects for which they are responsible. In this connection, it is appropriate to ask the question: what project does our current government have?
This is not an idle question, we do not have to wait for the state to accept the blockchain as an official registry, we are proposing to introduce such a mechanism for tax distribution now . But in the future, we need to create such a system on the blockchain so that absolutely any independent community can use this scheme for their own purposes. Be it a summer co-operative or any social movement.

Of course, it is naive to hope that everyone will want to regularly spend their time meticulously studying proposed projects and allocating funds. However, thanks to the technology of Smart Contracts, anyone can easily delegate their authority to an authorized person or organization, whose actions can also be evaluated in the same way. Thus, the choice will be in the hands of specialists, the most authoritative (trusted) of which will have a certain power, which again they can abuse only to the detriment of themselves.
Separately, I would like to note that independent rating metrics should be introduced in such a system. A rich person pays more taxes and thereby everyone sees that he brings more benefit to society. The company itself determines the laws and rates of mandatory tax deductions, which are automatically transferred to personal tax accounts of citizens. But no one is limited in addition to the required funds to invest additional. Such investments should be accounted for separately, demonstrating the ratio of voluntary to mandatory. All these metrics are designed to stimulate people to do noble deeds that are returned to them in the form of honor and respect. And again, you can show thanks to whom this or that project was implemented, unless, of course, the sponsors chastely strive to ensure that "the left hand does not know what the right hand is doing."

The Institute of Liturgies was used in ancient Greece instead of taxes, where residents competed in the nobility, who will do more for their policy. Thus, it was not greed that was stimulated, but altruism, and essentially negative qualities: pride, vanity, and ambition are all in the public interest. E-Conscience also creates a value system that encourages the virtuous behavior of people.
Other pictures of the society of the future, which is based on reputation, can be found in the book Reconism , which we recommend as an excellent theoretical work.
All this certainly looks like a utopia, but in reality at the moment there is not a single argument known why this utopia cannot become a reality.

How natural is this?

It may seem to many that this is an unnatural state of a person, but this is not so at all. This is a primordial state of responsibility in which a person lived from primitive times, but lost it relatively recently in the process of urbanization and globalization. Until recently, people lived in small communities where almost everyone knew everything about everyone. Where the memory was stored not only what the individual did, but what the fathers and grandfathers did. Reputation was a property of the clan, which gave rise to a very deep sense of responsibility for the whole clan, and not for oneself. Thus, the Electronic Conscience system only returns a person to that natural state where the proverb becomes relevant again: Take care of honor from a young age.

System creation risks

Even if you do not like the perspective we have drawn, you are still interested in creating Electronic Conscience, unless, of course, you are one of those who benefit from irresponsibility and injustice. With our participation or not, a similar system will be created in any case in the near future, this is the logic of current events - there are so many parties that are interested in creating it for various reasons. But there is a big difference: how, by whom and for what purpose will it be created?
In the best case, it will be created by a public movement advocating for justice, which will create the most transparent and honest mechanism based on blockchain or similar systems. At worst, officials or zuckerbrins will offer us a very convenient service that will work perfectly at the household level, but in this case we should forever forget about the equality of rights in the new legal system. We will not have any guarantees that the reputation will not be subject to corruption, manipulation and bargaining. No matter how much one would like, it is very difficult to believe that the goal of those in power when creating the system will be equality and the triumph of justice. It is obvious that in the near future, people will be largely dependent on the system of mass reputation. And if she befell the same fate as the media, which are used today precisely not to qualitatively and conscientiously inform people, bringing to them the most significant, useful and relevant information, this will be a real tragedy for society. The presence of such a system can be a nightmare compared to its absence. And in fact, it is an amazing fact that this has not happened so far, because a centralized system vulnerable to corruption could be made long before the advent of blockchain technology.

Conclusion

So today, humanity has a unique chance of a total and at the same time peaceful reconstruction of society. This is just a tiny chance, not a guarantee of success. So far we have just entered the information age with one foot - the Internet was born before our eyes, which, despite its infancy, has turned over centuries-old foundations in many areas. Today, the foundations are being laid for the rules by which a network society will exist. The struggle for informational equality has just begun.
The state may prohibit the creation and use of cryptocurrencies, may ignore independent registries, and pass laws on the right to oblivion . But until it has banned the use of blockchain, this gives us a chance to create a full-fledged reputation system within the framework of the law.
At the moment, we have disparate parts - prototypes of tools that, in our opinion, are extremely necessary for society: this is the Sundress and the Trust Network .
The main problem, however, is that there is no “us” behind which there would be at least some formed movement, or at least the team actually does not exist. At least not existed so far ...