Dr. Hax on Nostr: I've been thinking about how much smaller and weaker the #cipherpunk movement is as ...
I've been thinking about how much smaller and weaker the #cipherpunk movement is as compared to the 1990's.
Now, to be fair, people in that era were legands. Bringing #PGP to people, for example. DeCSS, the battle for #privacy, and so on.
Now I see people who not only hate #bitcoin and #crypto, but they dedicate time and effort to convincing others that it's a technology which must be defeated at all costs.
So what happened? Why are people who would normally be happy to cheer on those who try to empower the user and cut out huge #corporations be treat us with such hostility?
1. The cipherpunks were always a very small number of people, in a few small groups. Many of the groups are no longer around due to implosions that people outside the group do not fully understand. But new people have appeared, so that doesn't explain everything.
2. People have given up the the fight for privacy. Many people have told me they don't care if corporations see their data as long as they get high quality, cheap or free service. Some never cared, others have been ground down over the years, still others can't justify the level of a pain in the ass that it is to have a reasonable amount of privacy. I think this is a big part of the lack of entheuasim. It's hard to get excited when you feel like you can't win.
3a. As for bitcoin in particular, it seems to be the people who haven't stayed humble. You know the type. The ones who will tell nocoiners to "have fun staying poor". The ones who write off concerns about the environment and insult people instead of taking the time to explain the grids being built in Africa, the methane capture, the increased speed of building out of solar and wind power generation, and so forth.
3b. Bitcoin is lumped in with the blockchain projects, and the failures like FTX and MtGox. The community has gotten better at trying to distinguish bitcoin from the wannabes, but there's more work to be done. Again, insulting people will not cause them to change their mind nor their ways.
3c. At the same time, bitcoin is seen by many as a wall street toy that makes big #bankers rich. The #community has not done as well at disputing this, and a large part of that is because so few business want to accept btc. The "it's not currency because you can't use it to buy goods and services" isn't entirely wrong. People on nostr know you can buy a few things directly in btc if you really try hard enough, but groceries, gas, the power bill? Ha! No. We also know you can buy gift cards and use them at places like Amazon, but that's just a pragmatic hack which sort of reenforces that so few places/people accept bitcoin. To compound matters, few want to part with their coins because NGU. It's a rut where the only way I can see out is to get individual people to accept and then hold btc for goods they make or services they provide. If it were more useful as a currency, it'd take the wind out if the sails of this "but purely speculative" perception. Keep having those conversations when the opportunity arises, and realize that if your pushing bitcoin on people who don't want to hear about it, it'll just entrench them in their existing views. Talk about how it has benefited you personally and if they are curious, they'll ask.
4. Being against corporate dominance, and living by what they believe, cipherpunks have a hard time getting their message out. It's not like they're going to buy ads on Google or Facebook to tell people to use Tor. This also somewhat dovetails with the first point. When there were a small number of groups, it was easier for people to know what is going on and try to join in the efforts. When there are instead 1000 different projects that don't talk to one another and new projects spinning up that are doing the same thing that the existing projects have done for a decade, it's really hard to stay in the know. On top of that, there's few people to do the work at hand because efforts are so fragmented. I appreciate all of you who ask for projects that do XYZ and those who boost and answer. I don't have any delusions that people are going to abandon their project in order to join forces with another project, but maybe we could at least stop digging this hole even deeper? Just a thought.
5. Maybe the threats to #freedom and privacy aren't that bad as compared to how they were 30 years ago. I don't buy it, and the doomers clearly don't either. Still, if people do believe this, it would explain the lack of urgency and enthusiasm.
I'm sure there are others, but these are the ones that came to mind today. And if you've gotten this far and still want to tell me I'm completley wrong and that bitcoin is not just a speculative asset, I mean I guess go ahead if you want, but you're preaching to the choir. So if that's you, try telling me how I can communicate my message better instead. Where did you get confused? How can I use fewer words and get my message across more clearly?
If there's any question about what that message is, it's that I want the people to be on the side of the cypherpunks who are fighting evil corporations. And not just the people on #nostr, or on social media. I mean everyone!
Now, to be fair, people in that era were legands. Bringing #PGP to people, for example. DeCSS, the battle for #privacy, and so on.
Now I see people who not only hate #bitcoin and #crypto, but they dedicate time and effort to convincing others that it's a technology which must be defeated at all costs.
So what happened? Why are people who would normally be happy to cheer on those who try to empower the user and cut out huge #corporations be treat us with such hostility?
1. The cipherpunks were always a very small number of people, in a few small groups. Many of the groups are no longer around due to implosions that people outside the group do not fully understand. But new people have appeared, so that doesn't explain everything.
2. People have given up the the fight for privacy. Many people have told me they don't care if corporations see their data as long as they get high quality, cheap or free service. Some never cared, others have been ground down over the years, still others can't justify the level of a pain in the ass that it is to have a reasonable amount of privacy. I think this is a big part of the lack of entheuasim. It's hard to get excited when you feel like you can't win.
3a. As for bitcoin in particular, it seems to be the people who haven't stayed humble. You know the type. The ones who will tell nocoiners to "have fun staying poor". The ones who write off concerns about the environment and insult people instead of taking the time to explain the grids being built in Africa, the methane capture, the increased speed of building out of solar and wind power generation, and so forth.
3b. Bitcoin is lumped in with the blockchain projects, and the failures like FTX and MtGox. The community has gotten better at trying to distinguish bitcoin from the wannabes, but there's more work to be done. Again, insulting people will not cause them to change their mind nor their ways.
3c. At the same time, bitcoin is seen by many as a wall street toy that makes big #bankers rich. The #community has not done as well at disputing this, and a large part of that is because so few business want to accept btc. The "it's not currency because you can't use it to buy goods and services" isn't entirely wrong. People on nostr know you can buy a few things directly in btc if you really try hard enough, but groceries, gas, the power bill? Ha! No. We also know you can buy gift cards and use them at places like Amazon, but that's just a pragmatic hack which sort of reenforces that so few places/people accept bitcoin. To compound matters, few want to part with their coins because NGU. It's a rut where the only way I can see out is to get individual people to accept and then hold btc for goods they make or services they provide. If it were more useful as a currency, it'd take the wind out if the sails of this "but purely speculative" perception. Keep having those conversations when the opportunity arises, and realize that if your pushing bitcoin on people who don't want to hear about it, it'll just entrench them in their existing views. Talk about how it has benefited you personally and if they are curious, they'll ask.
4. Being against corporate dominance, and living by what they believe, cipherpunks have a hard time getting their message out. It's not like they're going to buy ads on Google or Facebook to tell people to use Tor. This also somewhat dovetails with the first point. When there were a small number of groups, it was easier for people to know what is going on and try to join in the efforts. When there are instead 1000 different projects that don't talk to one another and new projects spinning up that are doing the same thing that the existing projects have done for a decade, it's really hard to stay in the know. On top of that, there's few people to do the work at hand because efforts are so fragmented. I appreciate all of you who ask for projects that do XYZ and those who boost and answer. I don't have any delusions that people are going to abandon their project in order to join forces with another project, but maybe we could at least stop digging this hole even deeper? Just a thought.
5. Maybe the threats to #freedom and privacy aren't that bad as compared to how they were 30 years ago. I don't buy it, and the doomers clearly don't either. Still, if people do believe this, it would explain the lack of urgency and enthusiasm.
I'm sure there are others, but these are the ones that came to mind today. And if you've gotten this far and still want to tell me I'm completley wrong and that bitcoin is not just a speculative asset, I mean I guess go ahead if you want, but you're preaching to the choir. So if that's you, try telling me how I can communicate my message better instead. Where did you get confused? How can I use fewer words and get my message across more clearly?
If there's any question about what that message is, it's that I want the people to be on the side of the cypherpunks who are fighting evil corporations. And not just the people on #nostr, or on social media. I mean everyone!