I'm trying to wrap my head around the upcoming Oracles(see Smart Media Tokens). If you are not aware of what I'm talking about, It might be enough for you to understand that with the promised SMT's there will be a new political layer added to Steem's already complicated ecosystem. I realize that this sounds scary to many, change is always scary, but I'm also attempting to be open minded about the whole thing.

True Democracy

Is that even possible? I'm not trying to be a cynic here. I mean, I understand the concept on paper, I completely understand it because it's also a fruit of an idealist mindset. However, I'm not one to subscribe to Utopian ideas without poking all the holes I can into the system proposed.

If this is a topic that interests you, I recommend you checkout the youtube video released by Steemit Inc. just yesterday. It details the plan in the easiest way possible, without the excessive amount of technical language that developers tend to love a little too much.

The goals are beautiful

Let me get that out of the way first, don't misinterpret me. I mean, I want a system that has social accountability too. Where if someone is a terrible actor, that person can suffer the consequences of his actions regardless of the size of the wallet. That to me sounds fantastic, almost musical. But, a couple of minutes after listening to the presentation I was already thinking of ways corruption could take a bite off the pie yet again.

Some of the Challenges will remain

And this is exactly why I believe that the change we need has a lot more to do with the culture than code. Lets apply a little of that ugly honesty to this whole conversation so that we can be prepared to tackle the challenges to come. If Oracles are democratically elected, but they are also responsible of verifying the authenticity of accounts, thus giving the accounts the power to vote... Do you not see a possible conflict of interest?

Doomsday Scenario #312

OK, I'll come out and say it, because it needs to be said(imo). A whale with enough resources on Steem could: finance the creation of a Botnet that will allow him to upvote content within the SMT, and also vote the Oracle into its position of policing the system he is abusing of.

Now of course, this would be conditional to that particular SMT being something gaining enough moment for a corrupt whale to even consider the amount of work and offset the costs of doing such a thing. But, as one of my really good friends and mentors says all the time - "Never underestimate your opponents".

The possible way forward

Has to be with diving the power of the Oracles even more, and I realize that it would complicate things to a higher degree. But, aside from an Oracle being specific to the First Condition (in this case verification of individuality) and the second condition (being a good actor), those two obstacles should be approved or disapproved by a collective poll type voting of the oracles that participate of the ecosystem.

So, for example if a user @impartofthecabal is approved by the cabal's Oracles (this word is hilarious to me). Then, that would be offset by the Oracles that are not part of the Cabal. In very much the way the sincerity database works currently on Steem.

On a side note, I'm currently rated at 2% bot and around the same as spammer, isn't that interesting. But, I digress, the truth is that in my personal opinion, one Oracle should not have the absolute power to qualify or disqualify an account for rewards. If this tweak is not implemented from the start, if someone else did not think of this possible exploit to the system, I would be surprised with a hefty dose of disappointment.

Let's play a Game - Let's think like Corruptors

How can you think of ways the system can be exploited? Listen to the video yourself. Maybe we can collect valuable input that we can present our leaders the witnesses and they in turn can forward it to Steemit Inc. Hopefully collective wisdom can score a field goal here.