Mission Impossible: Explaining BTC to your family.
Christmas - that time of the year when we all gather around the table, eat, look at our phones and try not yell at each other too much. Marvelous!
Also the time we talk about our work, achievements or less of and other 'personal' stuff. Of course, you will talk about crypto and Steemit. I mean, I WILL, because honestly, I've lost my ability to talk about anything else currently. I am fun at parties, yes!!
Explaining is interesting because it can make you realize that you do not understand yourself something as good as you though you would. But Bitcoin is crazy difficult to explain to anyone not to mention someone who doesn't use a smartphone. "decentralization" means almost nothing for people in ex-communist countries, old people, young people and people in general...hmm. OK!
So you start with the basics: there's a ledger that everyone has so you can't cheat and everything is fair and transparent! Then you add money to it. BOOM! Easy enough, right?
The problem is that imagining a huge ledger is very difficult and what exactly are these miners anyway? It all sounds made up and weird.
Even if you get what it does, why ON EARTH is it so expensive?
[ and do you have any? maybe 2? cause you see.....]
The discussion gets weird fast and you start to add metaphors or comparations and twists. By the time you are too tired to talk anymore you are not sure if you're talking about bitcoin or something else entirely. And anyway, who can tell?! Everyone is drunk anyway
In the end, my father was unconvinced: Just give me real money!
ME: You mean fiat?
Him: ....
Me: ...:(...?...ok...
My mother is half sure I'm now a drug dealer?!
My sister still think I need a job.
We all love eachother!
I feel that I am not alone in this though. Even fucking Bill Gates has this problem!
Anyway, I hope you all had a nice holiday and you tried to WOKE! your family to the future. Which is, of course: STEEMIT!!
PS: The photo of the apple is actually form this article that is great:
https://medium.freecodecamp.org/explain-bitcoin-like-im-five-73b4257ac833
I tried to explain to my Pakistani dad about it and he thought I was joking :X he’s like it’s not possible
:)) Try again next year!!
I showed the conversation you had with your family to my parents and we all laughted :))
haha! Glad to hear you talk with your parents about this!
"If you can't explain it to a six year old, you don't understand it yourself."
Albert Einstein
I found that once I had my mothers agreement that all fiat only had value because enough people agreed that it did that it wasn't to hard for her to accept crypto value.
When she struggled with the term mining I explained that just like with gold all the term really meant was the application of resources and energy in the production of a commodity.
When she asked about decentralized i explained it ment no bank, or government could freeze my account but that it means I'm responsible for being my out vault.
Like you I was at the end met with a nope "I don't get it"
Brilliant name, man!! Long Live Arrakkis!
Very nice effort 10/10!
Thanks you know you're the first person to comment on it.
It would have been Muaddib but it was taken by someone that has never made a post or comment.
well, my MUM just sent me today 0.002 BTC! I converted my sister into the cryptoworld 2 months ago and now my sister was spending Christmas with my family and she converted my mum, so now we are all into it :)) Different currencies. Me into EOS and Steem, them into TRON Stellar and blablabla :)) But I found it amazing! My mum (coming from also an ex-communist country, like yours :))) ) is now into CRYPTO! She doesn't speak English or really handle an computer, but I guess she is an optimistic one :) If the daughters say so, they must be right :)
This is awesome!!
I can totally relate it :))
RIGHT?!
Haha, so true! :-
:D
Very true! It won't be that long before it will be more mainstream.
Optimism! It will be as misunderstood and confusing then as well though...
Great post! My father and my mom are apathetic to this thing, Bitcoin and cryptocurrencies. Only my 3th big brother believes it. I'm asking my father to invest in Cryptocurrencies, and I'm said if I have experience a scam. But he didn't interested, he afraid of scam. I'm ever make anger my mom because telling about Bitcoin. My father said if I should choose the investment that exactly known how it works, like buying lands. My father only suggest me to old ways to invest! Well, because of my father considers it as scam as my father's logic thinks if digital currency isn't possible.
Now I realize someone also experience the same experience like me.
I wonder if explaining Bitcoin in 2017 is more or less complicated than explaining the Internet in 1993. I would think it would be easier but here we are.
Do you know the book " The Internet of Money (Book 1) " from Andreas Antonopoulos ? Please, read it, you will have so much great examples to explain the concept of Bitcoin and what's bitcoin. It's the most inspirational book I have read about Bitcoin and it really gave me hopes in our society and the world :-) And now, I don't have any more problem to explain theses concepts even to a kids :-)
Ps: your GIF fis crazy LOL LOL LOL Crazy Steem Santa !!!
:))))))) thank you again!!
No, adding it now to my list thanks a lot for this. Always looking for new crypto books to read, review and recommend!