Is Namecoin similar to a Tallystick?

[chrisj]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tally_stick

It was a great system that lasted for over 700 years. How many centuries will Namecoin last and is it analogous?

Could contracts be written in to the blockchain?

C

[virtual_master]

Could contracts be written in to the blockchain?

Lets say personA and personB will make a contract.
They have an id/persona{'publickey':'PKA', ...} and id/personb{'publikkey':'PKB', ...}.
In a namespace contract/ (still not specified) they could make an entry:
contract/contractAB{'partyA':'persona', 'partyB':'personb', 'signatureA':'signed_by_party_a', 'signatureA':'signed_by_party_a', ...

That is enough. This could be a secret contract where the text entry is not introduced.
The time of the contract is the registration data.
The signatures will be generated with the private key corresponding to the public keys in the namecoin id:
PrivateKeyA+ContractText->'signed_by_party_a'
PrivateKeyB+ContractText->'signed_by_party_b'

If it should be a public contract than they can introduce additionally other fields like
'contract_text':'here comes all ...'
or just
'contract_about':'service contract to renovate the house of partyB'
Other issues could be added also like warranty.

If partyA doesnt want to fulfill the contract partyB can reveal the text to neutral parties and they are able to check the validity:
ContractText+'signed_by_party_a'->'signatureA'

Now it could be also used this procedure but it would be necessary that the parties meet together and introduce it together in the namecoin chain with the actual client.
It could be created in the future a handshake protocol in the client(or created an extra client for contracts) which would facilitate a remote contract.

[chrisj]

Could contracts be written in to the blockchain?

Lets say personA and personB will make a contract.
They have an id/persona{'publickey':'PKA', ...} and id/personb{'publikkey':'PKB', ...}.
In a namespace contract/ (still not specified) they could make an entry:
contract/contractAB{'partyA':'persona', 'partyB':'personb', 'signatureA':'signed_by_party_a', 'signatureA':'signed_by_party_a', ...

That is enough. This could be a secret contract where the text entry is not introduced.
The time of the contract is the registration data.
The signatures will be generated with the private key corresponding to the public keys in the namecoin id:
PrivateKeyA+ContractText->'signed_by_party_a'
PrivateKeyB+ContractText->'signed_by_party_b'

If it should be a public contract than they can introduce additionally other fields like
'contract_text':'here comes all ...'
or just
'contract_about':'service contract to renovate the house of partyB'
Other issues could be added also like warranty.

If partyA doesnt want to fulfill the contract partyB can reveal the text to neutral parties and they are able to check the validity:
ContractText+'signed_by_party_a'->'signatureA'

Now it could be also used this procedure but it would be necessary that the parties meet together and introduce it together in the namecoin chain with the actual client.
It could be created in the future a handshake protocol in the client(or created an extra client for contracts) which would facilitate a remote contract.

Great, everything old becomes new again. A technology that is not properly understood or utilised will never go away and will keep coming back until we have exhausted all its possibilities before presenting us with new problems and new needs that drive the next disruptive innovation. At least that's what I believe at the moment.

The other potential I see for Namecoin is that these kinds of features could not be added to Bitcoin because the volume of this data would congest the network. Namecoin and Bitcoin can complement each other in this way, no?

[virtual_master]

Satoshi Nakamoto already mentioned about some additional possibilities with Bitcoin but he advised to use better an alternative blockchain for it. So created Vinced (nobody knows who is he but they are some parallels between Vinced and Satoshi) the Namecoin system.