[cap-talk] Capability accounting

[Norman Hardy]

On Jun 22, 2006, at 6:48 PM, Nick Szabo wrote:

>
> The main barrier to micropayments and agoric allocation of resources
> is not computational costs, but mental costs:
>
> http://szabo.best.vwh.net/micropayments.html
>
> Mental accounting (or mental transaction) costs arise whenever
> Grandma (or anybody else) is asked to make a security or economic
> decision.  Mental costs pose a severe limit on how fined-grained such
> decisions can be, and thus on how fine-grained it is useful
> for the computational mechanisms (such as capabilities for
> security or tokens for payment) to operate.

I agree but I don't think about money when I turn on the light or
get a drink.
Both of these run a meter which turns directly into a bill.
If I were to fill a swimming pool I would do a quick estimate, however.
I adjust the thermostat in the winter and think briefly about money
for a few seconds a day.

> Some user interface proposals, such as my market translator, may
> help counteract this problem by allowing users to express general
> (broad) preferences that are treated by the computer as
> fine-grained preferences upon the circumstances specified or
> implied by the user.
>
I presume it is an agent that pays reasonable charges and doesn't bother
you except for exceptional requests.

> Nick Szabo
> http://szabo.best.vwh.net/
> http://unenumerated.blogspot.com/
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