{talk} Robin Hanson (in person) - Who Vouches For You?

Prof. Robin Hanson is the author of The Age of Em (on brain emulation), The Elephant in the Brain (on how purely social motives shape our behavior), and https://overcomingbias.com. He also teaches economics at George Mason University.

Join us at Sully's House for a presentation on some novel ideas for reforming criminal justice. Bitcoin is about more than just the asset and computer system. It is about building better institutions, something that does not happen automatically even in a future world where bitcoin is the global reserve currency.

Abstract: Lawsuits are expensive and most folks are broke. So today, most lawsuits target “deep pockets” who happen to be nearby, not the person most responsible. And our criminal law systems give stale inefficient one-size-fits-all answers to difficult questions of privacy, freedom, cruelty, dignity, and sharing of responsibility. Let us instead require everyone to get an insurance firm, a “voucher”, who insures all their legal liability. Then most all crimes could be officially punished via fines, and voucher-client contracts could specify (and pay for) punishments (including fines, jail, torture, or exile), and limits on freedoms (like travel bans, curfews, call monitoring, and ankle-bracelets). And also co-liability, wherein a team agrees to all be punished if any of them is found guilty. Bounty hunters could investigate and prosecute cases. With all this, competition could induce flexible efficient adaptation and innovation in crime deterrence and detection.