Freedom of discussion

Friday after work, I am going to go for a few drinks with a small group of colleagues and the plan is to introduce them to the world of blockchain. The catalyst for this was a discussion with one of them last week who is interested in the philosophy of it and, the potentials of distributed networks. This is a setup.

The colleague is not overly interested in it at all but they want to have others around to pick at the holes in my arguments and, the people chosen are skeptics. On top of this, they have already misrepresented what I have said and stacked the deck in their favor and I imagine it is going to be more interrogation and trial than discussion.

That is okay by me. I think this is a good thing, people should be skeptical of what they don't know and, what is new. They should carry at least the same level of skepticism through to what they do know and trust also as it is that which is likely having the greatest impacts on their lives.

I always find it interesting when people complain about the world yet do not actually spend much time looking at why it is a certain way and instead accept it as, "just the way it is". It is also interesting how trusting people are of literature that has been created to reinforce their position or make it appear that the changes being made are adequate, even though they are not closing the gaps to where they need to be at anywhere near the rate they must to make a difference. Everyone loves a confirmation bias.

On Friday, I do not expect that I am going to convince them of anything at all and I am quite prepared that they are going to double-down on their various currently held positions because, they have the "data" to back it up. It happens with every technological advancement yet, it doesn't stop the march of innovation and development and ubiquity of usage from happening.

For me, I get to go into this comfortable in the belief that what I am doing is correct and they will be comfortable in their own beliefs also. That is the thing with beliefs, they are comfortable - until they are not because the ground on which they sit starts to shift. People act on incentive almost exclusively and until there is incentive to move, we will stand in the same position.

Discomfort is a great mover of people, which is why so many people in crypto and especially Steem, are economically uncomfortable. If they were well off, most of them wouldn't have bothered with the chickenfeed amounts they get and, they wouldn't care about the future or risks of loss as they would have enough. There are those here with plenty too and they might be incentivized t build more through crypto as they see the opportunity too. There are more incentives than money though and often, each person holds numerous value streams of lesser to greater importance.

The people I am going to talk with are smart, talented and economically stable professionals who understand that their current positions are able to maintained with little trouble, their jobs secure. For them, the system works fine, they are comfortable. Why question the status quo when it is working for you?

But, times are changing, economic turbulence imminent, support structures and job security fading. Sure, these people might not feel it immediately and directly, but as those around them start to falter and fall, how soon do the indirect pressures start to become their own burden to bear? Will they start to recognize that the system on which they rely is untenable, or will they believe that they are untouchable?

As said, my goal isn't to change their mind as that is always met with resistance as it targets belief systems and, I don't want them to follow me. In my opinion, there are certain ways to enact change of behavior and one is through force, the other is through demonstration. Demonstration is much like a freemarket where people can choose to participate or not and then the responsibility of action falls on the individual. Force opens doors to blame and victimhood.

I will do my best to answer their questions and if it is not good enough, their burden to find out more becomes theirs, as is always the case. The road of freedom can only ever be, an opt-in journey.

Some suffer a lifetime without taking a single step.

Taraz
[ a Steem original ]