Occurs to me an interesting use case for crypto hasn't really been worked out: swearing real oaths.

Thought of it in light of Musk reinstating Alex Jones on Twitter after  saying he wouldn't. 

You'd get a very different culture if the norm was to memorialize that sort of commitment properly.

Delver at contraptions.venkateshrao.com, running summerofprotocols.com, host of /gloom ☀️

The distinction here is between shallow play/deep play in the sense of Clifford Geertz' Deep Play essay (which is based on a pre-utilitarian philosophical stance). 

Shallow play bets: committing to certain beliefs being true/false

Deep play bets: committing to certain values being good/bad

Stake $ vs. reputation

Assertions of belief should be subject to change in light of new facts, and staked with utilitarian mechanisms like long bets/predictions. When mere beliefs are wrong, a financial penalty is good enough.

But assertions of values should be treated as more than bets. If you flip on values, you should lose reputation.

I've thought about this a lot too. 

One of the risks is that you also want people to be able to change their mind in the light of new information. What's the right balance?

This is just about the only instance I'd support attestations. Good points made here.

That’s awesome - sign your campaign promises