Educational Byte: Why Can a Smart Contract Still Make Dumb Mistakes?
The term "smart contract" sounds quite sophisticated in itself. We might even be led to believe that it’s something so "smart" that it cannot make mistakes, unlike humans. Yet, ultimately, it’s nothing more, and nothing less, than a very human invention. Smart contracts can make dumb mistakes—and they have, time and time again.
Let’s remember that a smart contract is a computer program stored on a crypto network that automatically carries out rules when certain conditions are met. Someone made it. That someone is often a human developer, who can make mistakes, especially if the programming language is particularly difficult.
So, a smart contract isn’t that “smart.” It’s just a little machine that follows instructions, whether those instructions lead to the intended result or send everyone down a rather unfortunate rabbit hole.
When “Smart” Code Gets Things Wrong
We can explain this by imagining a physical vending machine. You want...
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