Question and Discussion: Bitcoin and Cryptocurrency Attitudes and Age
This morning, I've been trying to catch up on some reading, and fell into the "Black Hole" of people discussing cryptocurrencies and Bitcoin and their possible futures.
Clearly, the range of opinions run from "$1,000,000 Bitcoin ahead!" to "The bubble will burst and Bitcoin will be worthless; nothing more than a strange hoax in the timeline."
What's on the horizon?
The first time I heard about Bitcoin... and subsequently Alt Coins... my thought was that someone had finally invented the universal "credits" science fiction films and books have been portraying for decades!
You know, you're on some space station somewhere, and you pay for your blue steaming drink with these "credits." We never know who issued them; nor whether there's a government involved... they are just "credits." Bitcoin, right?
Then I considered the articles I'd been reading, again.
The veins in red leaves
I wondered if you could generally sort them according to whether the author was "past-oriented" or "future-oriented." As in, if your worldview is informed by the past, you'd be more likely to think cryptocurrencies to be nonsense and a waste of time; but if your perspective is informed by the future, you'd be very open to the potential of cryptos.
So then I segued into the next variation: Are Bitcoin and crypto skeptics generally older; while proponents are younger?
Paul Krugman is 65, Jamie Dimon is 62, Warren Buffet is 87, Bill Gates is 62. You could argue they have "experience" but has their age created attachments to "established ways" so they end up feeling threatened by having the status quo turned on its head? Do they have so much invested in the "old ways" that they are closed off to new possibilities?
Although there are certainly older people in the "pro-crypto" camp, cryptocurrencies are often touted as a "Millennial Thing."
Which all just made me wonder whether a large part of the whole crypto debate isn't just about functionality and changing systems (like the Internet), but about a "generational battle" for being in charge of how the world works.
Of course, it's tempting to bring "The Government" into the equation... but let's wrap a larger package around that idea: Most people in government tend to be older (i.e. 50+) rather than younger (20-something, 30-something).
What do YOU think? Is a large part of the "crypto debate" a generational issue? Or is that irrelevant? Leave a comment-- share your experiences-- be part of the conversation!
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I think the bigger picture is being missed here. Boom or bust a lot of people have from cryptocurrency gained some amazing skillsets. You have people learning how to blog all the way up to learning how to program. You have people gaining leadership skills in projects and more people gaining the ability to take direction and run with it.
People who would have never had the opportunity to work with each other now are. You would take a number of things say steam monsters and make it its own thing if cryptocurrency really was nearing the end here.
Just think people are having to write and create accounting programs and rule sets for cryptocurrency. Imagen the auditing industry when it comes to fraud, embezzlement or other stuff if they simply had a 0 coin blockchain to use to prevent such things from happening.
There are a lot of options out there even if you took away the darn coins everyone is so obsessed will be the next new whatever value thing.
People are creating so much opportunity for themselves. It is breath taking.
Oh, for sure there are lots of opportunities. Just yesterday I was talking to someone about the benefits of putting genealogical information on the blockchain... millions and millions of verifiable data points, accessible and recorded for all.
SteemMonsters is an exciting project because it's going to be in "general release" soon. People can buy card packs with their fiat debit card, BTC and various other cryptos... but you have to have a Steem/Steemit account to get to the benefits.
I'm sure there will be lots of other amazing things coming our way.
There are so many giveaways for booster packs these days as well from different people. Everyone is really hype for it!
If they can actually deliver on the hype — and so far, so good — I think it has a lot of potential for getting pretty big... time will tell.
It probably is to some degree. There's a "common wisdom" type post I've seen that goes something like: if a tech existed before you were born, it's hard to imagine the world without it. If it was invented before you were 35, it's natural and easy and exciting. After that, it's crazy and weird and moving too fast. 😂 Obviously that's just some random post, but how many kids explaining the VCR and now kids explaining the cell phone to their parents are there such that it's a trope?
But I'd also add class to the equation. Krugman was sealioning about "show me one problem crypto actually solves." If he was poor, he wouldn't need to ask that stupid question. Banking the unbanked, for one. A means to earn, for two. His privileged arse can't fathom it. None of the skeptics you mentioned can; they benefit from the current system and so see it as working.
Agreed... and technological changes have been enormous, in the past 50 years: Mobile phones, personal computers, the Internet, now cryptocurrencies.
I remember "life before the web" and I remember rotary phones. Our kids (27 to 31) are right on the cusp, almost technological "natives," but they do remember a time before the web. Our eight year old grandson... he's fully "native." He doesn't know a world without the web and smartphones.
Class does come into it, for sure. And maybe what also comes into it is that it's hard to "profiteer" in cryptos. You can invest and have the coin you hold go up 10x... but it's much harder to hold "financial hostages" like banks and other financial institutions depend on. And such profiteering is the domain of the wealthy classes.
Ultimately, we tend to support the paradigms that support us... for them, the status quo works. For me? Not so much. I'm tired of busting my butt and still having to worry about the next shutoff notice from the electric company.
I fit very much into the "Xennial" description - not quite gen X, not quite millennial, analog childhood, digital adulthood. My sister is only five years older and the tech gap between us is immense.
And yeah - I would like the rest of us to have our basics covered before the über rich get one more nickel. It's one thing to have luxury; it's quite another to have multiple houses and a yacht while other people have no home at all.
I think there is only one flaw in the whole cryptocurrency debate that nobody ever mentions. What happens to all the ledgers when the giant solar flare hits us and we are bombarded with so many various wavelengths of radiation that the servers in the deepest caverns are rendered useless and nothing electric / electronic works. I suppose we can set up a pony express type system to verify our paper wallets on the papyrus-chain and start trading with coconuts then.
But seriously, one giant solar flare and we could all be living in the stone age and crypto would be a faded memory in short order. Maybe that's when the global/universal (credits)come in to play.
That's certainly a really good and valid point. But then again, a giant EMP or solar flare will set pretty much ALL systems of any kind back to the stone age. We'll be back to trading with beads again, and things like salt and rice. Unless, of course, everyone turns their basement — or even one of their walk-in closets — into a giant Faraday cage.
I always knew there was a reason why I periodically print out some of my better plans and idea on paper!
It's possibly what I was learned in University the 'third variable' - so even though it looks like it is about age, the real factor might be let's say 'social media' and how much you feel confident using it. Let's say growing up with social media and the concept of likes (points) is super normal - is the bridge towards using those likes, points, credits, cryptos in order to get something else (a product, a service) that huge?
What exactly that 'third variable' is I'm not sure about yet, but it must be something that looks like age but isn't age (I assume age itself is not the reason, brains keep on processing information pretty much the same over life if no huge damage is being done to it like accidents, drugs, illnesses).
I used social media as an example, could be part of it, could be something else entirely.
Interesting topic!
Hi @soyrosa, perhaps what we're looking at here is the human tendency to keep doing things we believe are working for us. In the case of the people who are criticizing cryptos, most likely they are deeply invested in the system that made them rich... and so, anything that looks like "change" is a threat to something they believe is working well.
Because it IS working well for them, they are not capable of (or unwilling to) look at the possibility and reality that the system is NOT working for millions of other people — a sort of "cognitive blindness."
Hi @denmarkguy,
thanks for your post and the time you spent on it. I am sure, that there is a generation conflict when talking about cryptos. I think about everytime after discussions with my dad. Sometimes I ask him for investment ideas. When it comes to cryptocurrency he obvious feels like we are talking about aliens from a far far galaxy. Most of the older people worked very hard for their money. No wonder that they scare to invest one penny in speculative assets like Bitcoin or Altcoins. Time and possibilities have changed. So maybe this is a thing we have to discuss with our generation. Thats my opinion.
Best regards
Airdrop Kryptograph aka. @rich.art.deluxe
I remember my own parents never being very interested in technology. Even though my mother and I lived 6000 miles apart, on different continents, I could never get her to use even a basic laptop for email... even though it would make our communication so much easier.
I guess most older people tend to be "conservative" with their investments (understandable, as they often are dependent on that income for living), while younger people are more risk-oriented, so things like cryptocurrencies would hold more appeal while you still have current income from a regular job.
I'm sure there is a generation gap but let that not hold us back. I talked to my parents on Skype when there was 11,000 to 22,00 users.
I hold a little bitcoin, ETC, TRK , TEK and a few others coins. For me a lot to gain and not much to lose.
Mostly I was just wondering out loud... and I have no intention of letting naysayers hold me back... and I'm definitely "older," at 57. But then again, technology fascinates me... I started playing with computers in 1976 and was one of the first 1/4 million people to have email.
Fascinating. do you stlil have the same email address?
Just keep hodling - some days it is best just to not look at the price. I liked and upvoted your post. Notice that you are a cat lover and Danish. Great combination. My husband is Danish - we have three cats. Live in Central America now. Please follow and like some of my posts if you wish. Cheers, Monica and Hans