Blockchain's blue-sky vision

Dreamers and visionaries imagine a blue-sky future in which not only entire companies could operate in automated fashion (distributed autonomous organizations), but also a form of government (distributed autonomous government) and some aspects of society could be automated.

PwC, 2016

Within a web of contextualized, blockchain-enabled smart contracts, it’s conceivable that software agents could be set up to dynamically manage each distributed autonomous organization. In a virtually normalized data environment, those agents could reach out and grab knowledge and other digital or digitally represented assets.

One example of such a web would be autonomous e-commerce. A fleet of self-driving trucks delivers goods to distribution centers. The robots at the distribution center sort and move those goods onto autonomous delivery drones. Then the drones make deliveries to end consumers. An end consumer, meanwhile, has some returns to make (such as shoes that don’t fit) and puts smart packages out for a drone to take back to the distribution center. Each step could be governed and executed by a web of smart contracts and one or more software agents acting as virtual third parties that have legal status.

PwC, 2016

It’s good to have long-term visions like these because they provide inspiration and direction. However, by 2020, only the simpler categories of smart contracts listed earlier seem feasible and are likely to materialize. In the 2020s, several of the simpler varieties of self-enforcing contracts could become possible at scale. Such a capability could eventually simplify compliance for whole categories of transaction types. But there are many obstacles in the path to adoption.

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Read more at https://www.pwc.com/us/en/technology-forecast/blockchain.html , a May 2016 PwC Technology Forecast series about blockchains and smart contracts which consists of five short articles and one interview.

If you don’t know much about blockchain technology, we suggest reading all five articles. If you are steeped in blockchain knowledge, we suggest reading at least parts 1 and 5. The interview is well worth reading in any case.

1. Introduction and forecast
2. Blockchains defined
3. Why are blockchains important?
4. Private blockchains, public, or both?
5. How smart contracts automate digital business

Interview: Gideon Greenspan of Coin Sciences on alternatives to public blockchains