Discussion: trust minimized vs. trustless

[bitcoinsSG]

The term trustless occurs in several sections in the book so far (10/25/19), namely:
glossary.asciidoc:117
glossary.asciidoc:205
glossary.asciidoc:214
ch02.asciidoc:7
ch01.asciidoc:8
ch01.asciidoc:81
ch01.asciidoc:89
ch01.asciidoc:90
topics.asciidoc:55

I would like to discuss and consider using the term "trust minimized" instead as I feel it conveys a more responsible and accurate version of the message intended for the reader.

Although Satoshi did use the term trustless several times, I don't believe it was as appropriate as one might think given these factors:
For a user of the system to rely on the claims of the proposed system, they have to rely on the following:

1. Trust the hardware manufacturer for not introducing application specific dishonest logic
2. Trust majority of miners to behave rationally (from an economic standpoint)
3. Trust software developers and reviewers to not behave dishonestly

The key factor that makes the above claims close to a non-issue is un-likelyhood that they would take place, however, it is still a significant deviation from a zero probability situation ( or trustless situation ). Trust-minimized implies recognition of the non-zero probability while conveying the importance of trying to remove reliance on trust.

If there is agreement, I'll be happy to submit a pull request with the changes.

[nopara73]

To add to the possible options, the correct cryptographic term for it is "untrusted."

Although I always vote against that, it just gives the laymen the impression that it wants to say "not trustworthy."

[chanhosuh]

I think it makes sense to use "trustless" when the only trust is in the system, not identified parties. Otherwise the term can never be applied to anything.

[nopara73]

Otherwise the term can never be applied to anything.

Maybe because it should not be 😈

Since, "there's no universal truth."

[ImranLorgat]

Agree. Szabo is a fan of the the term "trust-minimized".

For most users, using something like Eclair Lightning Wallet on their phone is not truly trustless because we're trusting ACINQ not to write malicious code, the open-source review community to properly their software, and trusting your Android phone not to spy on you (ok, not really)