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3836 sats \ 14 comments \ @billytheked 4h mostly_harmless

I tend to feel there are three kinds of bitcoiners -- and each of them occupies a "niche of a niche."

i. the technically-minded ii. the economically-minded iii. the speculative investors (aka fiat/ngu maxis)¹

It seems to me that people who don't comfortably sit in one of these three categories are just too preoccupied with fiat life to be bothered.

The daily grind seems to wear people down more and more every year. They have less mental bandwidth -- let alone unallocated capital -- to spend the time learning and investing in bitcoin. I'm saying this with the experience of having tried to sell the idea of bitcoin to many otherwise sensible people. I suspect, while they may not have been forthcoming about this, that each of them is just too preoccupied to care (none of them would identify as being any of the first three things on the list either.)

They are just average people with may too much on their plate to care about learning about bitcoin.

And then you have bitcoiners/podcasters shouting from the rooftops, ad nauseum, lower your time preference, limited supply, hard money, self-sovereignty, etc. Of course, I'd agree, all these things are important, but they are probably a far cry from the concerns of the individuals (an increasing majority of people, it seems) living hand to mouth. The best one is when they say, "bitcoin is the escape hatch." Sure it is. And so is this:

Bitcoin is:

a great way for developers/programmers to get paid
for many reasons, interesting from an economic perspective
historically, a high-performing asset
a potentially great savings vehicle, which is the only aspect that would have any importance to those to whom I have tried to sell the idea of bitcoin, so called "plebs." None of them is a programmer, interested in economics nor is he/she that concerned with stonks/assets/equities.

All of them are great friends of mine who I get to see increasingly less because we are all increasingly busy with the increasing demands of (fiat) life.

I think there is a paradox here that puts a fly in the ointment of mass adoption: the more money printed, the more life sucks for most people, the less time/resources/energy they have to learn about bitcoin.

Change my mined.

1. the plebs -- which I didn't really count because I think what is conventionally referred to as a pleb is a cross-section of all three.
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202 sats \ 1 reply \ @SimpleStacker 2h

They are just average people with may too much on their plate to care about learning about bitcoin.

I'm not sure I agree. The average person's time is so filled with TV, sports, and random entertainments that it isn't really accurate to say they have too much on their plate.

That's my experience with people, anyway. They say they're swamped, but they devote hours and hours to pretty meaningless pursuits.

0 sats \ 0 replies \ @Solomonsatoshi 1h

There is an awful lot of distraction available to occupy the minds of the masses, that is for sure. Perhaps that is not entirely accidental. Think about how the media generally avoid any serious examination of the fiat monetary system and its operators and even how it actually functions primarily upon debt.

235 sats \ 1 reply \ @justin_shocknet 3h

Change my mined.

I'd argue that if falling in either of the 3 camps was enough to make one a Bitcoiner, it'd be easier to make Bitcoiners.

Bitcoiners are rare I think because it takes a multi-disciplinary person, spanning the 3 (and maybe even 4th + 5th) categories, to really get it at a level they don't get shaken out over time.

i. the technically-minded

Problem with someone purely technically minded is that they will inevitably chase shitcoins, there's always a technical "improvement" that can be made, and always a shitcoin to offer said improvement.

Purely technical people, lacking multi-disciplinary traits, are Bitcoin's greatest liability. They fail to recognize its value is from being a paragon of stability and relative simplicity, and so they're always seeking to change it... fortunately they fail more often than not due to a design meant to resist them, and end up shitcoiners.

ii. the economically-minded

Econ brains fall back to the no-intrinsic value trope, lack of MoE traction. Gold bugs can be great econ minds, but dismiss Bitcoin because they're not speculative or technical enough.

iii. the speculative investors (aka fiat/ngu maxis)

Another group trapped by shitcoins, nft's and other high-time-preference degeneracy, they need to be grounded in some technicals and economics to get Bitcoin.

and maybe even a 4th or 5th

Anthropology and Game/Adversarial theory are 4th and 5th columns I'd say are required, if not lumped into the others.

mass adoption

I think the silver lining is most people think through a consensus filter, they have no principles or understanding beyond their own survival, so run with the herd.

Bitcoiners being multi-disciplinary are an intransigent herd, they don't break off into other herds even if those other herds are bigger. Their numbers are therefore a one-way-ratchet, and the size of that herd compounds on itself... eventually attracting people on scale alone.

0 sats \ 0 replies \ @Solomonsatoshi 1h

I simply already hated the banks and bankers and they way that have captured our governments/democracies and media narratives. So Bitcoin was an easy sell to me!

110 sats \ 0 replies \ @Taj 1h

Well written piece,

The paradox for me is, you think you found Bitcoin too late but you meet the majority of people in life who have zero idea of what it is, so you think, am I early or am I late 😭

You're doomed to ponder the dilemma everyday and what makes things worse is that, Bitcoin has deep potential biblical, potential time travel vibes for me at least

And the deeper you go into the meaning, the deeper you realise that the more you know, the more you don't know

100 sats \ 0 replies \ @Scoresby 1h

I really like this way of thinking about adoption: the quotidian fiddly-ness of life gets in the way of more important things -- maybe can be called "fiat" or maybe it's just that human nature that we are very easily caught up in grooming the monkey in front of us or daydreaming at the forest leaves above rather than ascending into galaxy-brained super monkeys.

Maybe one thing that is missing is fear. My experience with talking to normies about bitcoin has been that people are afraid of it: afraid it is a scam, afraid to hold much of their wealth in it, afraid that it is illegal or "for criminals," or just afraid of it because it's foreign.

When you add the discomfort caused by this fear to all the rest, it is much easier for a person to keep on watching the latest tv series or shopping for bow ties. It doesn't feel good to venture into the unknown.

Maybe most people don't want to be explorers.

136 sats \ 0 replies \ @optimism 3h

I think there is a paradox here that puts a fly in the ointment of mass adoption: the more money printed, the more life sucks for most people, the less time/resources/energy they have to learn about bitcoin.

This feels a bit like looking up a really steep cliff and thinking there is no end in sight. This is because "mass adoption" is a pretty steep cliff, and probably too steep, from where we are today. So perhaps, a better narrative is required under bitcoin is:?

80 sats \ 0 replies \ @CliffBadger 3h

I think there is a paradox here that puts a fly in the ointment of mass adoption: the more money printed, the more life sucks for most people, the less time/resources/energy they have to learn about bitcoin.

While those who have the most Bitcoin end up with more energy to earn even more Bitcoin. This is why people resent capitalism, even when it's the only hope they have of preserving their own life.

105 sats \ 3 replies \ @plebpoet 3h

I think you laid out truthfully the way it has been since 2020 or 2021. But from here on, I think we'll see a subtle shift. Yes, people who aren't in those categories are not going to approach technology money the same way -- but the financial tools they already use that are solving technical problems for them, these will get them using bitcoin faster than they even realize it. I just think we'll see corporate integration in a new way, for better or for worse

21 sats \ 2 replies \ @Undisciplined 2h

Yeah, as soon as sending or receiving bitcoin is literally one click away, we’ll start seeing the migration.

It’s hard to get a snowball rolling from the bottom of the hill.

69 sats \ 1 reply \ @Taj 1h

Bro dropping deep metaphors....love that one ❄️

21 sats \ 0 replies \ @Undisciplined 1h

Thanks! It felt good on its way out.

0 sats \ 0 replies \ @halalmoney 48m

Great analysis here. Thanks for this.

0 sats \ 0 replies \ @Solomonsatoshi 1h

Great to see a thoughtful and interesting post rather than the usual cut and paste links and commentaries. Yes most people are not predisposed to question the underlying assumptions of their host society- and fiat money is perhaps one of if not the biggest societal assumption in modern society. I remember the first time using Bitcoin an being blown away by the sense of difference to 'normal' money. Most people are so entrenched in the state imposed fiat debt slavery monetary system that they cannot/dare not look outside it. Fortunately I was always interested in economic theory and had developed a strong distaste for banks and bankers and so was immediately attracted toward Bitcoin when I found it in 2017....but most people, unfortunately, simply are not so predisposed.

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