First posted on Moderate.
In the context of Bitcoin, “normal” means “I don’t know or don’t care.” And “normie” comes from “normal.” In other words, the average person is not interested in Bitcoin, at least not enough to use it.
Lack of exposure is not the problem. Bitcoin now regularly appears in mainstream media headlines. USA Today, Fox, forbes, economist, Le Monde, you say it.term Bitcoin It generates more search traffic than any other term that most of us are tired of hearing. kardashian.
But even though virtually every human being and most seagulls have heard of Bitcoin; Less than 500,000 Please use it every day.
And it’s not for a lack of effort on the part of the Bitcoin community.we wrote Bookblog (there are a lot of blogs!), recorded video, organized conferences and meetups, and hosted podcasts (so many podcasts!) about the value of Bitcoin. Although we do more to convert Nokoin pagans than most religions, our beautiful temples sadly remain empty.
Educating the world about Bitcoin has succeeded in building a community of knowledgeable, dedicated and passionate people in the fields of technology, economics, politics and finance, but the orange pill has made us It took me as far as I could. As with many strategies, the small gains from global education were noticeable in the early stages, but have now leveled off.
The orange pill no longer works.
Show me, don’t tell me
I understand how controversial this claim is, as orange pills are very popular. This is a strategy that has served us well over the past 15 years. And most Bitcoiners prefer education. We tend to be critical thinkers who devour blogs, books, and podcasts to learn more about our passions and keep our minds sharp.
But we don’t study all topics, and there’s no need to. I know very little about how good training and healthy eating affect my body on a cellular level, but I feel the benefits of both. In fact, our world is so complex that no one can understand all its important aspects. How many welders and virologists, or aerospace engineers and app developers, really understand each other’s fields? Most people are ignorant about useful topics, but it’s a very complex world. Now that’s natural.
However, expertise is not a prerequisite for enjoyment. I use all kinds of products and technologies, like TikTok, AI assistants, and even water treatment plants. Simply because they make my life better. That’s all I really want to know. No technical understanding required.
Practicality is all you need to benefit from technology. We need to improve people’s lives in some way, whether we understand it at a granular level or not. We can tell people about the benefits of Bitcoin until we are exhausted and they get frustrated. What matters is how they actually experience it. We should stop telling them how great the Bitcoin economy will be and start showing them. Less theory, more practice.
Think about remote work. In the 1970s, large companies like IBM simply toyed with the idea. Experimenting with several workers All at once. Then along came technology. Broadband and WiFi, corporate VPN, cloud storage, and an inexpensive, powerful computer that can sit in your pocket or desk. Don’t forget all the software like Zoom, Teams, Slack, Meet, and SharePoint.
But even just a decade ago, many people had heard of remote work, but few had tried it. It grew only a few percent a year. Please enter “new coronavirus”. Prices have doubled and tripled.now 67% of us are engineers Work mostly or completely from home.
The new coronavirus was certainly a shock, but Pandemics are nothing new. The last one has revolutionized the geography of work thanks to technology. This technology has become really useful, and the pandemic has given us the opportunity to see just that. Without the pandemic, would the revolution in remote work have finally happened? Almost certainly, if not as quickly. Would that have ultimately happened without technology? This question doesn’t make sense because this technology is what even defines how we think about “remote work.”
Useful technology changes behavior, habits, and society. Sometimes radically.
We Bitcoiners need to learn, internalize, and remember this lesson. orange pill It no longer works, at least not at its current scale. It’s experiences that change people’s minds, and we build those experiences with technology, not conferences. As soon as we start offering experiences beyond what fiat currencies can do, people will automatically adopt Bitcoin. Until we start providing such services, no matter how many books or blogs you read, their thoughts and habits will not change.
where to start
So if the key is to improve people’s lives, whose lives are we talking about? There’s a big difference between corner store in hyderabad and Canadians who love the outdoors. Different interests, different needs.
Think about the innovative technologies of the last few decades. TV, PC, Internet, smartphone, Facebook, A.I.. They are all rooted in the same demographic: people with disposable income in developed countries. Facebook took this approach to the extreme by opening up first Limited to students attending elite universities in Europe and America. And now it’s your aunt’s favorite technology. Another lesson.
The way forward is therefore borderless, open, censorship-resistant, and most importantly, leverages Bitcoin’s strengths as a P2P currency to improve the lives of wealthy people who can spend their money. is to improve. Please provide a better way to trade directly with each other.
In practice, this is often Add Bitcoin to apps you use anyway. It may also mean discontinuing the intermediation of services you are already using. It’s like connecting gig drivers and passengers directly, without Uber’s help. It’s like connecting artists and fans directly, without Spotify or record companies taking a cut. It’s like paying directly to Dashers without receiving DoorDash’s share.
The winning formula is to incorporate our technology into the existing next-best user experience. What the iPhone did with a digital camera. Utility improves UX, and UX drives adoption. Existing companies’ profits are our opportunity. This is the essence of destruction.
Let me also be clear that better equipment for wealthy Westerners is not more important than giving people in developing countries access to modern financial services and protecting themselves from government corruption. . That’s also important. It’s just a more effective way for wealthy Westerners to drive markets and spread technology. They are the entry point for medicines, the beachhead to mainstream adoption. But yes, the ultimate goal remains to change the entire world with Bitcoin and improve the lives of everyone in it.
Utilities > Education
Education is important for entrepreneurs, engineers, investors, and others who need baseball-level information. It’s usually easier to improve things if you understand how they work than by random trial and error.
However, all you need to know to use something is how, not why. Dozens of animals Use tools to make your life better. Some of them may have a vague understanding of how the tool works. In other words, thicker rod = stronger and harder. Thin rod = light and flexible – that’s all you need. We all already use countless technologies without understanding it, just because we like the experience.
You don’t need to do a lot of research on how to improve people’s Bitcoin experience.easy to find Which apps are the most popular. Couldn’t much, if not all, be improved by borderless P2P payments? That’s the whole idea, right? So add borderless P2P payments or rebuild with our technology. If we do the right thing and Bitcoin is really better (which it is, of course), then we don’t need to convince people anymore. They just have to adopt it and convince each other.
