My current thoughts regarding crypto...
I think we're still in the heavy marketing stage. -Which means, the trend setters are experiencing an exciting ride, millionaires are being made overnight, the technician class is having a digital Summer of Love where they're going to change the world, (man!). It's like the early days of Unix and Opensource and Usenet. -When most people didn't have email accounts yet. -And when they did, they signed up with Yahoo! or Hotmail (remember Hotmail?)
So, if you're inclined, if you're in a position of some social influence, chances are you will be 'allowed' to experience a high degree of success, so that all the regular people can see and feel the pull. YOU are the marketing program for the "bridge to nowhere". All the current turmoil in crypto looks to me like nothing more than flashpots and fiberglass mountains and fake jungles and actors in pirate costumes.
It's when the bar to entry lowers, the learning curve flattens, when regular people, the moms and small business owners and highschool riff raff, are able to download a simple 'app' and effortlessly pay for a movie ticket or a bag of groceries, or buy a used set of snow tires on Facebook Marketplace with blockchain math... That's when the marketing period will be over and they'll stop handing out winning lottery tickets.
Then, I see a period of acclimation, where.., it's just so easy and cheap, (No bank charges? I'm 12 and I don't need my parent's credit card? Wow!), that traditional systems will be sidelined and the skills to use them effectively are forgotten. (Who has a website anymore? It's all on Facebook now! -Where if you post wrongthink, they can quietly turn off the spigot so that nobody sees your desperate messages. Nobody reads 'blogs' anymore! That's so HTML web one point oh, (man!)).
And then.., it won't be a "Wham!" moment, but rather a period in time when everybody finally looks up and realizes that the bright new landscape of possibilities has transformed into a trap. All the IPO cash is gone. -Rather like that moment a decade or so ago when people realized, "Oh. Amazon rules the Earth. I remember when they were just a book seller, deep in the red and widely considered a cautionary tale. But now they sell everything, they've killed Main Street deader than Walmart, my job is threatened and I can't buy the stuff I need without an internet connection and a mailing address and confirmed credit card number. What the hell happened..?"
We've already seen trial runs at control through finance in the public sector. -As has been apparent for the last several years, the comic book industry, (of all things!), was the canary in the coal mine. -People with the wrong Twitter politics found themselves savagely hurled out of work, and Paypal, Kickstarter, Patreon, Square and the big credit card companies simply shut off their ability to participate in the economy. On a wider scale, de-platforming became a practice with small media actors and YouTube channels and such. Being "Cancelled" was invented, (though this is hotly denied by those doing the cancelling. Of course).
Was that the WWII trial run for the Built Back Better economy, Two point Oh?
Anyway...
I don't see anything wrong necessarily with landing a windfall with crypto today, but it would be advisable to think ahead. -Not so much to figure out a way to store wealth reliably, but rather...
Not to forget those who helped you. Don't forget to water and nourish your human networks! If the power goes out and you need to reach out, whose house are you going to ski to through the blizzard? Whose welcoming arms will be waiting for you?
If you get too lost in the 'metaverse', too dependent on easy digital cash, when you reach the end of that "bridge to nowhere", where will your next steps take you? You'd better know your people, who you can trust, who you can safely love and respect, and be in a position to serve them well.
Schedule time now out from behind that computer screen and be seen, be helpful, be open.
I think we're still in the heavy marketing stage. -Which means, the trend setters are experiencing an exciting ride, millionaires are being made overnight, the technician class is having a digital Summer of Love where they're going to change the world, (man!). It's like the early days of Unix and Opensource and Usenet. -When most people didn't have email accounts yet. -And when they did, they signed up with Yahoo! or Hotmail (remember Hotmail?)
So, if you're inclined, if you're in a position of some social influence, chances are you will be 'allowed' to experience a high degree of success, so that all the regular people can see and feel the pull. YOU are the marketing program for the "bridge to nowhere". All the current turmoil in crypto looks to me like nothing more than flashpots and fiberglass mountains and fake jungles and actors in pirate costumes.
It's when the bar to entry lowers, the learning curve flattens, when regular people, the moms and small business owners and highschool riff raff, are able to download a simple 'app' and effortlessly pay for a movie ticket or a bag of groceries, or buy a used set of snow tires on Facebook Marketplace with blockchain math... That's when the marketing period will be over and they'll stop handing out winning lottery tickets.
Then, I see a period of acclimation, where.., it's just so easy and cheap, (No bank charges? I'm 12 and I don't need my parent's credit card? Wow!), that traditional systems will be sidelined and the skills to use them effectively are forgotten. (Who has a website anymore? It's all on Facebook now! -Where if you post wrongthink, they can quietly turn off the spigot so that nobody sees your desperate messages. Nobody reads 'blogs' anymore! That's so HTML web one point oh, (man!)).
And then.., it won't be a "Wham!" moment, but rather a period in time when everybody finally looks up and realizes that the bright new landscape of possibilities has transformed into a trap. All the IPO cash is gone. -Rather like that moment a decade or so ago when people realized, "Oh. Amazon rules the Earth. I remember when they were just a book seller, deep in the red and widely considered a cautionary tale. But now they sell everything, they've killed Main Street deader than Walmart, my job is threatened and I can't buy the stuff I need without an internet connection and a mailing address and confirmed credit card number. What the hell happened..?"
We've already seen trial runs at control through finance in the public sector. -As has been apparent for the last several years, the comic book industry, (of all things!), was the canary in the coal mine. -People with the wrong Twitter politics found themselves savagely hurled out of work, and Paypal, Kickstarter, Patreon, Square and the big credit card companies simply shut off their ability to participate in the economy. On a wider scale, de-platforming became a practice with small media actors and YouTube channels and such. Being "Cancelled" was invented, (though this is hotly denied by those doing the cancelling. Of course).
Was that the WWII trial run for the Built Back Better economy, Two point Oh?
Anyway...
I don't see anything wrong necessarily with landing a windfall with crypto today, but it would be advisable to think ahead. -Not so much to figure out a way to store wealth reliably, but rather...
Not to forget those who helped you. Don't forget to water and nourish your human networks! If the power goes out and you need to reach out, whose house are you going to ski to through the blizzard? Whose welcoming arms will be waiting for you?
If you get too lost in the 'metaverse', too dependent on easy digital cash, when you reach the end of that "bridge to nowhere", where will your next steps take you? You'd better know your people, who you can trust, who you can safely love and respect, and be in a position to serve them well.
Schedule time now out from behind that computer screen and be seen, be helpful, be open.
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