This is something that may sound out of a motivational book, but I realized that we naturally tend to follow some kind of authority when in comes to subjects we feel we don't master, which is mostly everything in life besides our own expertise. There is always someone that knows better and has a wider background when it comes to things like health, food, finances etc. You rather listen to a doctor's recommendation when it comes to your blood tests, a nutritionist when it comes to your diet and a financial advisor or an economist when it comes to finances. I guess you see where I'm going with all this. It's impossible not to fall into the "follow the experts" fallacy, because most of the times those experts are right and you should follow their advice. But the moment you're not carefully analyzing what the experts are saying you go back to normieland where you end up "trusting the science" and following Buffet's advice on bitcoin.
I guess most people attracted to BTC are in a way immune to this type of issue, at least that's what I thought for myself. But I recently found out that I was pushed away from building a multisig setup for my cold storage because most of the experts recommended not to do it! I did it to get a feeling for the thing and make some tests to see how to handle it, conclusion: most experts aren't right, most people could do it if they take care of their seeds and their zpubs. It's the perfect fix for a cold storage that is potentially your inheritance.
I remember now, why I didn't take the experimental gene therapy, I use bitcoin (with multisig :), i'm not drawn into anything crypto related and I don't think we should curtail CO2 because of "climate change". I am not an expert in any of those fields but I do trust my critical thinking and my guts in order to decide what my position should be regarding all that. Freedom is beautiful but it requires taking responsibility and deciding for everything that concerns your life, the moment we leave our decisions for some expert's committee we end up in the clown world we're living now.
Couldn't agree more. Thanks for writing that up!
There is always someone that knows better and has a wider background when it comes to things like health, food, finances etc. You rather listen to a doctor's recommendation when it comes to your blood tests, a nutritionist when it comes to your diet and a financial advisor or an economist when it comes to finances.
Enter the "experts on experts": I regularly encounter individuals who seem to regard media talking heads, influencers, reporters, etc. as the experts on identifying the experts on health, food, finances etc.
To illustrate:
Them: Bitcoin is a ponzi. Me: Really? What makes you think that? Them: They said so on the radio! Me: Who are 'they'? Them: An expert on finance from ACME!! Me: How do we know he's an expert on finance? Them: He's on the radio all the time!!! Me: That doesn't make him an expert on finance. It just means your radio thinks he is, right? Them: This is a very reputable radio station!!!! Me: That still doesn't make him an expert on finance. Them: This is why I can't stand "bitcorners". You think you know everything!!!!!
reply
"You are ALWAYS the sole arbiter of your life" fact
reply
Good post
reply
Why on earth people would recommend against experimenting with multisig is beyond me.
My advice would have been simply;
Mess about with it, test with small amounts until you're comfortable then go for it and good luck 🤞
If I'd practiced the best practices I used to preach I'd have had mine in multisig and not lost it in about fire three years ago.
reply
Sorry for your loss. Thanks for sharing your story. I guess this is one scenario where multisig setup is better, I'd bet most people's cold storage don't have proper physical backups (metallic fire resistant and/or redundant)
reply
Funny thing is, previously I'd had everything separated out, I was always sensible. Then I brought a boat, planning to go away and I moved everything on board. Then it burned down. Just like in the jokes.
Even funnier thing is I used to make metal wallets (@bitstashers on the dead bird app), and had some in my wallet when I jumped off the boat, but I'd not sent anything to them yet because they were a new batch 😆
Perfect storm.
If I'd had a multisig set up and left keys in a couple of places it wouldn't have mattered one bit.
reply