Cryptotalk, and Surreal Conversations with the Uber Driver

in #life7 years ago (edited)

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A few days ago, I ordered an Uber to get to the airport since I had a plane to catch. At first, it seemed like any other ride I’ve taken before, but little did I know that it was going to be one of the most fascinating Uber conversations I ever had.

At first it started like the usual: How’s the AC? It’s fine. Do you want some confectionery? No, thanks. Have you enough leg space? I’m fine.

Then after two minutes of awkward silence, the most surprising thing happened.

“Have you heard about them cryptocurrencies.. And what do they call it.. Bitcoin?”

I pause for a second, thinking that barely a couple of years ago those words would’ve sounded like Chinese to most people.

“Matter of fact I have, yeah.”

“Well then you know what’s it all about, right?”

I don’t say anything. Quite simply because I was more interested on what he had to say.

“That’s the endgame, you know? Bitcoin, that’s the cashless society they wanted to implement for decades.”

He stares at me, probably gaging my reaction to see if he should go on, or hold off a little.

“The RFID chip.. The mark of the beast. That’s what this whole thing is all about”.

“So bitcoin is the mark of the beast?” I ask just to make sure.

“That’s right”.

“What would that make of Satoshi? The Antichrist?”

“Who?”

“Satosh… Nevermind.”

He went on a short discourse about the one world government, the one world religion, the Illuminati.. And just when my attention started to drift away, he announced that he was going to let me in on a secret.

That he was going to reveal the true identity of the inventor of Bitcoin.

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“Gues who?”

“I was gonna say Satoshi, but I guess that ship has already sailed” I think to myself.

“It’s the pope!”

“Pope Francis?” I ask in disbelief.

“The one and only” He readjusts his position, sitting big and probably very proud of what’s he’s about to say.

“It’s the Black Pope, that Jesuit. He’s the last pope as stipulated in Saint Malachy’s prophecy” To be paraphrasing.

He continues for a while but my mind is drifting away. I began to ponder about this great new tendency where everyone nowadays is talking about cryptos, and wondering about the accuracy of the old axiom “All publicity is good publicity”.

He realizes I wasn’t listening anymore and he taps on my shoulder.

“You know what they’re hiding in the Vatican’s basements?”

“I’m gonna say Reptilians?”

“Worse!” He says without even blinking, nor laughing for that matter.

“Bitcoin mining rigs” He continues.

Reptilians would’ve been more believable, I think to myself.

“Wait, how is that worse?” I wanted to ask him. But I thought it through for a second and went with a joke instead.

“Well, clergymen are known for their cryptographic skills”.

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He just gives me a blank stare and quickly grabs a second phone from his pocket, plays a video and hands it to me.

“Here watch this!”

“What’s that?”

“Just watch it. You’ll understand soon”.

In the screen, some suit-wearing guy appears sitting on a desk with a black background behind him.

A few seconds into the video I understand where the driver had all these ideas from. The talk show host doesn’t seem to shy away from making all sorts of bold kinds of claims about how the Vatican created bitcoin under the Saint Peter’s Basilica.

He then soon engages in a strongly emotional rant about how Pope Francis is the inventor of Bitcoin, claiming so with absolute certainty and without providing any proof”.

“He absorbs their dread with his narrative. Because of this, he's effective at proportion to the amount of certainty he can project.” ― True Detective.

The podcast host is still talking, but my driver interrupts to give me some background on the speaker.

"He’s a bible expert." He says. "Oh and he’s also one of the most renowned historians in the world."

“No disrespect to religious people everywhere, but what possible relationship exists between Bitcoin and the Bible? Or ancient history for that matter?”

What he says is “Just watch and you’ll understand soon” but what he probably meant was “Stop questioning”.

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I watch for about twenty more seconds and just when I was going to hand him his phone back, the show host says: “I have proof! I have undeniable and irrefutable proof!”

Curiosity got the best of me and I decided to give it a couple more minutes.

The podcaster starts flipping through the bible’s pages searching for something, and with that my curiosity only increases. So does my sudden urge for popcorn.

But suddenly he stopped flipping pages, closes the bible and places it on the table.

“By the way, have you ever wondered why Muslims are never referred to by name in the bible?”

“What?” I think to myself, and in a total state of disbelief, I decide to continue watching.

He just goes on and on about the fact that there is not one single mention of the word “Muslim” in the bible.

He continues: “Despite all the holy wars and the crusades.. Muslims are never referred to by name in the bible.”

It gets crazier, and he quickly begins to blame SWJs for political correctness.. About the bible!

I look at the Uber driver and say:

“You know for being such a respected historian and bible expert… Someone should’ve told him that the bible came way before Islam did.”

He did not laugh, in fact he seemed a little upset.

“I’m not trying to offend you” I said. “But let’s see if I got this straight. So while writing the bible, God almighty was harassed by Social Justice Warriors who forced him into political correctness so he couldn’t refer to Muslims by name in the bible, is that it?”

The minute I said those words, I realized they were in excess. Nothing would come out of that anyways.

The guy just wanted to confirm what he already chose to believe. He tunes in to some preacher who namedrops the Vatican, Muslims and Lefties (their perceived ‘enemies’ I suppose) and he does in order to attach cryptocurrency to that they hate the most.

That’s how the merchants of hate operate.

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The rest of the drive at the airport was silent, which granted me some time to ponder about the moment cryptocurrencies are in right now in relationship to public exposure.

I pondered about how long it would take for all these lifestyle entrepreneurs - or whatever they’re called - to start selling seminars and newsletters about how cryptocurrencies.

I pondered about how many partnerships will be created next year between cryptocurrencies and mainstream influencers.

And more importantly, I pondered about this whole thing means to the common man.

Closing Thoughts

Yes, the Uber conversation was a surreal as it gets. But Blockchain is no simple concept to understand. So maybe in the first stages of adoption, each person will inevitably attempt to understand it in the context and universe they know best.

The important thing is that the message is already getting out there and reaching people from all walks of life.

I don’t know what the next year holds, but my guess is that one year from now, cryptocurrencies are going to be more in the spotlight than ever before.

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New reality tv show, 'Have you got Bitcoin?' where you are judged solely on your crypto-currency methods and views/beliefs on the whole subject. Haha :)

But that is quite the interesting story and conversation you had with your Uber driver mate. I try talk about it with my girlfriend in simple terms, and she just agrees. 😂 But at some point she wants me to put some money in for her.

Oh man that's great. She wants you to put some money in for her, that's at least something. Many other guys are dating or marrying people who don't want to even hear about this, or similar subjects.

My girlfriend has some money in crypto as well, she put it herself. But she doesn't want to handle crypto on her own. I guess we're on a similar situation man.

Even though we can't talk about it much with our girlfriends, at least putting money in is something. :)

Yeah it's definitely a bonus they are at least somewhat interested and want to invest into it a bit too. I always tell her about Steemit and she is very supportive as she knows I really enjoy blogging on here.

Just need this rise to come in the coming days. :)

When you find a long Steemit article and actually read it from start to end with fascination.... I loved this. Ubers are not a thing around here (Norway), but I sure wish conversations like this would present themselves more often.

Thanks for the kind words man! Oh so you guys don't have Uber? Do you have an equivalent, or just cabs?

Btw, I heard there's a lot of Tesla's in Norway, I don't know if that's true.

Haha, yeah. We have cabs, buses and Teslas. It seems almost everyone here has a Tesla.

I really enjoy the story, It's a deep and rare conversation between uber driver and it's passenger, and funny too lol. I'm a muslim by the way xD

Haha yeah, it was a real conversation for sure. Thanks by the way!

I did Uber/Lyft in Boston for a while telling many, many passengers about Bitcoin. It was fun, but no exciting stories.

Spreading the word while having fun, that in itself is awesome :)

And, making $$$.

Wow, great story. I'm thinking I might just keep my streak alive of never using Uber after hearing all that,,,, whoa nelly ! (-:

Haha no, I use Uber all the time. This was just one of those crazy situations. I hope this doesn't affect your decision about Uber. :)

Thanks by the way!

I remember you never used Uber when we met ;) Another avocado-case

Haha they just brought Uber in the city back then.

That is gold!!!

So much about this conversation has me in hysterics, but also concerned.

Haha thanks! It was quite surreal. :P

So I've started driving Uber.... I've had some great conversations with riders. However I never really go pushing my beliefs or ideas on them - I prefer to let them talk and I listen.

I have had some great conversations with people about crypto/blockchain - even listened in to some private conversations amongst passengers who were crypto-traders. Very enlightening!!!!

I wish I could record some of the conversations that have occurred in my car.... it'd make great viewing!!

What do you think about that video?? Here I am also seeming lot of video in every religion on youtube, where all those who want be famous start lectures on crypto or other financial matter. Some are provide good references other just miss leading everyone. May be its fame game???

Oh I think it's just starting. It's not a religion issue by the way, everyone is making their own crypto videos these days, even with no prior understanding of the subject. Which is not necessarily a bad thing.

It will generate a lot of attention, and later on I guess the best quality and more accurate go to the top and the rest will fade away.

There's a lot of superficial and missleading videos out there, you're right. But I think this was bound to happen, and it's part of the game.

It's like financial "experts" before cryptos. Thousands of gurus teaching people how to be rich , but only a few offer valuable advice.

I think it's a similar situation here. :)

Yeah! You are right. By the way its great story of your uber driver with you. :)

Hello again @the-alien

Is this fiction?

Man that story... I can believe it to be real as there are indeed people like that. I deal with conspiracy theorists all the time.

But if it is fiction, it is one of the greatest works I ever saw!

You made it not only plausible, but real.

Again, I don't know if it is real or not, but if it is fiction: Well Done!

If it's real though... Im glad you're safe!

Haha I wish it was fiction! That's why it's so surreal.

Thanks for the kind words, but it wasn't fiction which makes it even more mindblowing. It gave me stuff to ponder, that's for sure.

Holy! Yeah, ponder about getting safer lifts. Guy could figure you're a Masonry member with 33 priviledge and whack ya!

Haha or keeping my hands in my pockets so he doesn't interpret any Illuminaty signs ;)

Wow! I thought I'd heard all of the Bitcoin theories, but I hadn't heard this exact twist.

Now...what if the guy's right on all accounts?!

YIKES!

ASICS are heating Vatican City! Vitalik Buterin is the 'Black Pope!' The Dark One is doing Ethereum too, right?

Thanks for your very enjoyable, albeit strange, post. ;-)

Hahaha Vitalik is the Black Pope ;)

It was strange for me too, you know? I pretty much had to put it into writing.

I'm glad you did. A really good read.

From behind the shadows and really into to the mainstream. Thats the move that Bitcoin is making and oh by the way, making it go up even farther next year. This dip aside, all signs show positive growth- call it biblical or common sense:) Enjoyed the story. Thanks for sharing

Thank you, I'm glad you enjoyed it! I'm with you there, I think next year the growth will only be bigger.

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