Contract originates in shared wills and promises toward an uncertain future

Evidence

Most simply put, there is no freedom without uncertainty; it is the medium in which human will is expressed in promises. Of course, we do not only make promises to ourselves; we also make promises to one another. When we join our wills and our promises, we create the possibility of collective action toward a shared future, linked in determination to make our vision real in the world. This is the origin of the institution we call “contract,” beginning with the ancient Romans. — Shoshana Zuboff, The Age of Surveillance Capitalism, 1045

Categorization

• DEFINE: Defines contract functionally: the institution built from joined wills and promises toward a shared uncertain future.
• ADDENDUM: Relevant to the reader’s interests in institutions emerging from information/determination problems—contract’s origin mirrors Milgrom’s private-judge institutions arising to fill knowledge gaps.
• XREF: Connects to Milgrom’s account of pre-state commercial law and the emergence of trust institutions; contract as collective future-making parallels the book’s promise-and-will framing. — connects to: Freedom to will requires tolerating uncertainty through shared promises — Shoshana Zuboff, The Age of Surveillance Capitalism, 1061; Contracts are collaborative social processes for confronting an unknowable future, not fixed plans. — Shoshana Zuboff, The Age of Surveillance Capitalism, 1051; Contracting, not trust, brings the future into the present (+2 more)

Broader Connections

• Freedom to will requires tolerating uncertainty through shared promises #qualifies (0.85) — Shoshana Zuboff, The Age of Surveillance Capitalism, 1061
• Contracts are collaborative social processes for confronting an unknowable future, not fixed plans. #expands (0.85) — Shoshana Zuboff, The Age of Surveillance Capitalism, 1051
• A freely-made promise transforms uncertainty into fact by willing a future into being #expands (0.80) — Shoshana Zuboff, The Age of Surveillance Capitalism, 1035
• Shared uncertain futures are central to how imagined communities bind people together #expands (0.80) — Aris Komporozos-Athanasiou, Speculative Communities, 158
• Contracting, not trust, brings the future into the present #corroborates (0.75)