Do you know why?Bitcoin is a cult.
Do you know why?
By someone in particular or is it more emergent/mass delusion?Mostly brainwashing I would assume.
By someone in particular or is it more emergent/mass delusion?
Blanket statements like “it’s a cult” don’t move the discussion much or help us find truth. How or why it’s a cult, is more helpful.
Are you here to seek truth, or confirm your own beliefs?
Bitcoin is a cult
Bitcoin in no way meets the definition of a cult, including the wiki definition above. The "cult" FUD has been addressed in this thread extensively.It fits the textbook definition of a cult. From Wikipedia:
The word "cult" is derived from the Latin term cultus, which means worship.
Cults are social groups which have unusual, and often extreme, religious, spiritual, or philosophical beliefs and rituals. Extreme devotion to a particular person, object, or goal is another characteristic often ascribed to cults.
Maybe some people think that, but the people I know, and most of my posts have more to do with freedom.There are influencers but it seems like a mass delusion where a lot of people want to believe that bitcoin will make them rich.
I think it is a cult...I hope it is, an emerging new culture of personal responsibility, discipline, and freedom. I think the people who embrace these specific traits of the cult are the most likely to still have their bitcoin when this cult becomes a new culture.Are you saying that bitcoin is not a cult? It's either a cult or a religion. Which one is it?
To some people, discipline, responsibility, reputation, and freedom are "extreme" or "unusual."It fits the textbook definition of a cult. From Wikipedia:
The word "cult" is derived from the Latin term cultus, which means worship.
Cults are social groups which have unusual, and often extreme, religious, spiritual, or philosophical beliefs and rituals. Extreme devotion to a particular person, object, or goal is another characteristic often ascribed to cults.
I can't prove that China is buying bitcoin. It seems logical to me that they are buying or mining it, but I do not have any direct evidence of that. It doesn't matter much if they are. I should have preceded the statement with 'I assume X is happening because Y', sometimes I skip such statements in the interest of brevity.I'm here to provide my opinion on occasion and also to call out misinformation when I see it. Just like yesterday when I corrected you about China buying bitcoin.
Bitcoin is a cult.
Yes, it is a mind virus. Writing and arithmetic and money are all mind viruses. Constructive, collaborative mind viruses. They allow humans to communicate many things, ideas, and in the case of money, a distributed worldwide computer using all of humanities collective intelligence., a Bitcoin zealot will trade his life savings for entries on a distributed spreadsheet. And so it goes.
I see the point you're trying to make, and it has some validity, but you can't properly call most of the things you listed mind viruses on the order of Bitcoin. For example, neither reading nor mathematics require the shared belief and cooperation of other people in order to provide value. Money, on the other hand, would qualify as a mind virus, as would the entire concept of laws that regulate human behavior, which eventually give way to government.Yes, it is a mind virus. Writing and arithmetic and money are all mind viruses. Constructive, collaborative mind viruses. They allow humans to communicate many things, ideas, and in the case of money, a distributed worldwide computer using all of humanities collective intelligence.
The error in this line of thinking is assuming that an idea - in this case, "triple entry accounting", which may or may not have some sort of value, cannot be improved upon and replicated. If Bitcoin truly is revolutionary, then it cannot exist in stasis in its current, original form. All useful ideas and technologies evolve over time, and truly revolutionary, world-changing ideas/technologies/memes/mind viruses, being the most useful and therefore widely used of all, evolve faster and become more and more refined over time.Double entry accounting made organization and cooperation more efficient. Bitcoin is triple entry accounting (adding a timestamp to every entry.).
It can and is evolving. Just like mathematics or language: the basic rules stay the same, but calculus is built on the foundation, "blue" is added to the vocabulary...lightning and cashu are built atop bitcoin.If Bitcoin cannot evolve, it will die. And given that the maxis have dedicated themselves to staunchly opposing any evolution in Bitcoin (see: BCH), its death is a certainty, and only a matter of time and circumstance.
You're making some really good points on the subject of bitcoin (as usual)... However, I feel like bitcoin will be around for awhile and quite possibly is here to stay (I just think that the price will tank one day). Bitcoin is an interesting idea and it has been an interesting ride, but at the end of the day it is just money. And ultimately there is nothing special about money except that it often brings out the worst in people. Greed is really something to behold in the human spirit. It's quite disturbing actually.If Bitcoin cannot evolve, it will die. And given that the maxis have dedicated themselves to staunchly opposing any evolution in Bitcoin (see: BCH), its death is a certainty, and only a matter of time and circumstance.
Fiat money is corrupted - greed can be used to gain resources for oneself at the expense of others (counterfeiting being but one of infinite examples - legally indulged in by governments and banks, robbing everyone blind.)You're making some really good points on the subject of bitcoin (as usual)... However, I feel like bitcoin will be around for awhile and quite possibly is here to stay (I just think that the price will tank one day). Bitcoin is an interesting idea and it has been an interesting ride, but at the end of the day it is just money. And ultimately there is nothing special about money except that it often brings out the worst in people. Greed is really something to behold in the human spirit. It's quite disturbing actually.
Working, if you are helping others get what they want, is not evil - it’s not a zero sum game. You are making the world better. Sometimes helping people is direct, and sometimes incredibly indirect, but as long as you feel fulfilled in what you are doing, I think that is a good sign that you are doing right.Personally, I am trying to let go of money but it is a difficult process because I've noticed that the more I let go of my desire for money the more money I start making, which pulls me right back into a cycle of greed and desire and "working more." It's a brutal and viscious cycle and this is what makes me think that it is demonically inspired. And that is why when I see this, "Bitcoin is money and money can make you free!" that I feel a need to speak up and push back a bit. When they interview people in hospice who are on deaths door virtually none of them ever speak of money except by saying that they spent too much time working for it and thinking about it and not enough time enjoying their hobbies and loved ones. People who are about to die always regret working too much and not spending enough time stopping and smelling the roses. The theme being that, "The best things in life are free" (note to self).
Firstly I have addressed the first point multiple times. Peter Thiel addressed this concept in his book zero to one. A new technology has to be an order of magnitude superior to displace an existing technology due to inertia, sunk costs, switching costs, marketing, habit, etc. This is even more true when network effects are a key factor. Something else has to be not just better than Bitcoin in needs to be massively better (at least 10 times better) to replace Bitcoin. So far nothing fits the bill. Some cryptos are faster than Bitcoin or more anonymous but at the expense of network security or decentralization, etc. Could something be invented 100 years from now that blows Bitcoin out of the water? Maybe. Is that a valid reason not to own Bitcoin today when there is nothing superior on the horizon? Absolutely not.The error in this line of thinking is assuming that an idea - in this case, "triple entry accounting", which may or may not have some sort of value, cannot be improved upon and replicated. If Bitcoin truly is revolutionary, then it cannot exist in stasis in its current, original form. All useful ideas and technologies evolve over time, and truly revolutionary, world-changing ideas/technologies/memes/mind viruses, being the most useful and therefore widely used of all, evolve faster and become more and more refined over time.
If Bitcoin cannot evolve, it will die. And given that the maxis have dedicated themselves to staunchly opposing any evolution in Bitcoin (see: BCH), its death is a certainty, and only a matter of time and circumstance.
Funnily enough I don't necessarily disagree with your characterization. "Number go up" is as good a reason to own Bitcoin as any.@Australia Sucks representing pragmatic greed
In nearly every way, the base layer of bitcoin is perfect money, at least as perfect as man can engineer. There is only one shortcoming, which I will list at the end.Firstly I have addressed the first point multiple times. Peter Thiel addressed this concept in his book zero to one. A new technology has to be an order of magnitude superior to displace an existing technology due to inertia, sunk costs, switching costs, marketing, habit, etc. This is even more true when network effects are a key factor. Something else has to be not just better than Bitcoin in needs to be massively better (at least 10 times better) to replace Bitcoin. So far nothing fits the bill. Some cryptos are faster than Bitcoin or more anonymous but at the expense of network security or decentralization, etc. Could something be invented 100 years from now that blows Bitcoin out of the water? Maybe. Is that a valid reason not to own Bitcoin today when there is nothing superior on the horizon? Absolutely not.
As for Bitcoin evolving there is some tweaking around the edges but as Chance pointed out already most of the evolution is happening in the Bitcoin supporting ecosystem rather than Bitcoin itself. There has already been huge innovation in the Bitcoin ecosystem in the last 10 years and that will only accelerate in the next 10 years.
The problem is that we can verify that it has made people rich or wealthy already, this is known, thus negating your point entirely. How can one be deluded when we can point to a reality you seem to deny? People don't have to believe anything, they already know it.but it seems like a mass delusion where a lot of people want to believe that bitcoin will make them rich.
Your thought process could label Christianity as a "mind virus". It requires the cooperation of others, and includes believing in things that were revealed to others, that one trusts. BTC can be forensically verified and doesn't require trust at all. One need not even appeal to metaphysics.What's more interesting to me is the question of what makes individuals susceptible to various types of mind viruses, and whether there are different avenues of susceptibility.
I have no desire to punish, since I won't even be involved in said punishment, again negating any point there. I warn that those that can't open their minds and temper their egos will pay a heavy price. And they will.These types are clearly visible in this thread, with chance vought expressing idealism, @Australia Sucks representing pragmatic greed, and @Blade Runner voicing a sort of vindictive fury coupled with extreme arrogance and a desire to punish those he views as wrong/evil. All have different psychologies and motivations for HODLing Bitcoin, but all fell victim to the same mind virus.
Yes, but as I said above, Christianity does by definition. But we don't talk about it that way, here, because we shouldn't. Your pointing out realities of life that shouldn't be separated by their parts. It is what gets Urkel into trouble by always claiming money is bad, not the devotion or attachment to money, the real issue.For example, neither reading nor mathematics require the shared belief and cooperation of other people in order to provide value.
The important point. This can't be stressed enough. At this point, even if you argue with its characteristics, it's obvious where it's going - even Urkel is admitting he sees the writing on the wall. As a result, continuing to argue against it is just pure ego, and all of the claims against me, AS, Chance, etc are just spitting into the wind. They get mad at us for just recognizing what's going on. We are trying to inform and warn everyone where this train is going. It's the essence of irony that others won't listen AND get mad at us for trying to help them.What you personally think of Bitcoin doesn't really matter.