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215 sats \ 5 replies \ @ez 16 Aug \ on: Media Fractal around Bitcoin bitcoin
this reminds me of a conversation with a no coiner friend who is into finance and programming. He is simply stuck on the:
"If Bitcoin is so great as you're telling me, why isn't everyone [in the mainstream] saying so?"
I don't think there's any grand media conspiracy, excluding dedicated BDS haters. People are not using it themselves. Maybe they tried setting up a wallet at some point but it was somewhat weird. The vast majority of normies who interacted with it did it via Coinbase or other shitcoin casinos, where it's just another crazy thing to bet on.
People simply don't get it and diffusion of innovation takes time. Setting up your wallet takes time. Getting bitcoin takes time. Learning about self-custody takes time. Lightning takes time. Getting to quality resources of information takes time.
https://m.stacker.news/46271
Most people wish they bought Bitcoin earlier. Heck, everyone does. But dedicating time to through the steep adoption curve is complicated. And you can't even begin to grasp Bitcoin if you don't recognize the problems in the current system. The way things are today seem normal to people - we're living it, using a bank is normal way of doin things.
In this setting, offering any sort of alternative comes across as radical in the society of complacency, where everyone is trying to win approval and fit in. And in this period of scammers, shitcoining and MLM's being cautious about Bitcoin doesn't seem ultimately bad, though I have to admit it is disappointing.
The people I had no trouble orange-pilling already had a genuine need for it. They get it instantly and their eyes light up when you talk about it. Others are lost in the ocean of blind trust or shitcoining (gambling). Best we can do right now is lead by example and offer a way out for the curious one's.
Bitcoin information landscape is better than ever and my hope is that it's only going to improve moving forward. The growth of stacker.news itself is a prime example of this. We won't be able to influence the change to the degree we'd like to until we have popular publications and forums built on Bitcoin itself, driven by Bitcoiners. It's happening and the way forward is clear but lots of work to do still.
"If Bitcoin is so great as you're telling me, why isn't everyone [in the mainstream] saying so?" I would put that friend on the "never take seriously" list :-)
"If Bitcoin is so great as you're telling me, why isn't everyone [in the mainstream] saying so?"
This is a kind of self-fulfilling prophesy, If mainstream was saying so its market value would go through the roof... this would be true of anything.
Reminds me of the old Yogi Berra quote.
Nobody goes there anymore. It's too crowded.
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That list of “characteristics of innovations that affect their rate of adoption” is very insightful, I think understanding where bitcoin stands on each point can help us to better convey the message and allocate resources to the more difficult sticking points.
I’ll rate them 1-10 here for fun
1 being most friction
10 being least friction
- Relative advantages - 5 - Bitcoin scores high here on actual advantages as we all know, but low on perceived advantages for the reasons you stated:
And you can't even begin to grasp Bitcoin if you don't recognize the problems in the current system.
As the current system gets inevitably worse perception gets better.
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Compatibility - 3 - Bitcoin scores poorly here for much the same reason as above, but on a much more sinister level. Over 100 years living in a central bank fiat system has destroyed our time preference and thereby destroyed our values as a whole. i believe Bitcoin will help lower our time preference and realign our values with the good.
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Complexity - 1 - Bitcoin scores poorly here as well. Learning to be your own bank is difficult and requires many hours of learning proper Bitcoin storage practices. There’s a lot of friction here but it’s not insurmountable.
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Trailability - 10 - Bitcoin score very well here, it’s a voluntary, permissionless, opt-in system. Its divisibility allows people to try it out with small amounts to limit risk.
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Observability - 8 - High score here as well, you put it perfectly:
Best we can do right now is lead by example and offer a way out for the curious one's.
I also think it’s important to be very careful of where we use our toxic maximalism. I love the toxicity as much as the next guy, and it’ll be a necessary weapon to wield against the regime, but we must use it wisely and sparingly.
What do you guys think?
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