This is an op-ed by Brooks Lockett, a freelance writer and bitcoiner who fell down the rabbit hole in 2018.
Have you ever gotten someone interested in Bitcoin? What worked?
Have you ever accidentally pushed someone away from Bitcoin? What went wrong?
The frustrating reality that 99 out of 100 people on the street haven’t “got” bitcoin yet has led many bitcoin enthusiasts to conclude that nothing but time and patience can cure Cassandra’s curse. increase. Meaning of Cassandra’s Curse — Despite on the brink of collapse State of the Fiat Currency System — The public has yet to discover that a viable solution exists in Bitcoin.
yes, it’s early In fact, it is embryonic. But that doesn’t mean you can’t have lively conversations with “pragmatists, conservatives and skeptics” who are new to the Bitcoin ecosystem.
Close your eyes and think: How many conversations, online and offline, around the world have you had in the last 24 hours when Bitcoin was mentioned?
Hundreds of teachable moments?
Thousands of teachable moments?
Thousands of teachable moments?
Each of these moments represents an opportunity to properly apply persuasion and behavioral psychology to explain Bitcoin.
Just because a person is equally unacceptable to soliloquy about the Byzantine generals problem does not mean that he should “enjoy living in poverty.”
The fact that Bitcoin naturally challenges widely held beliefs makes it particularly vulnerable to backfire effects. , is up to the Bitcoin community.
Minimize Bitcoin’s “backfire effect”:
The Bitcoin community loves the benefits of decentralized networks, lightning channels, multisig setups, decentralization, and sound currency standards.
A collective terminology, shared goals, and shared values unite industry players who have spent years in the field. It’s fun to get together and say “I did it!”
But outside the community that is now the majority of people on Earth, these are terms that are galacticly distant.
Just like your jacked-up friend who really wants to join the CrossFit gym. The fact that he looks fine and healthy is still not enough for you to participate.
Case Study: How I Got A Lawyer Friend Into Bitcoin
My best friend is an intellectually curious person. He is smart, works in the legal profession, and always enjoys discussing economics, finance, politics, and more.
For years he knew I was active in the bitcoin space, so he asked me general questions about bitcoin. I tried to give you an overview from soup to nuts.
I always had the same subtle, discouraging, eye-opening response.
But one day I tried the opposite approach and sent the question back to him. After some discoveries, I realized that all he wanted to talk about was the potential role of Bitcoin in wartime.
I have explained very well how Bitcoin’s sound currency standards make wars significantly more affordable for authoritarian governments to fund.
We also explained how a refugee who can remember or maintain a seed phrase can carry 100% of their net worth stored in the network when fleeing the country.
The realization that Bitcoin is a universal language (a network that can be used anywhere in the world in 24 languages) is what drove him to do his own research and gravitate towards the field.
“Brooks, this is very obvious…why does this matter?”
know. But if we kept talking about mining, digital signatures, or the importance of software being open source… we would inevitably have had a giddy moment.
What seems obvious in your head may be an epiphany for another person.
If you ever get the chance to discuss Bitcoin with a newbie, rather than jumping to explanations of who Satoshi is, inflation graphs, or hash rate growth, I highly recommend starting with detailed questions instead.
– “What do you think about the traditional financial system?”
– “Have you ever been frustrated or late at the bank?”
– “What impact do you think the World Wide Web has had on the world?”
– “If you were in power, how would you act to make war financing harder?”
– “Do you feel like your overall purchasing power has increased or decreased over the last decade?”
– “Would you consider yourself an early, intermediate, or late adopter of new technologies?”
Asking simple but relevant questions reveals information that helps build more lively conversations. someone else’s Knowledge base instead of reinforcement your existing knowledge base.
that is IKEA Effect in action: For the same reason that consumers place a disproportionate value on self-assembled products, people value a conversation that they actively participate in.
image source
Let’s look at some example scenarios of how to reach the IKEA Effect.
A non-productive approach:
Other people: “Bitcoin will be shut down by the US government.”
You are: “This is technically unattainable in practice. It’s a distributed network of computer nodes, and without understanding basic computer science, you’re really not allowed to have an opinion on this.”
Other people: “Governments can shut down whatever they want. They have the best hackers in the world working.”
You are: “Anyway, you just don’t get it, and you’re missing out on bitcoin with that mindset.”
Net: No one can win.
A more productive approach:
Other people: “Bitcoin will be shut down by the US government.”
You are: “I thought so too at first. In fact, I’m sure you’re really interested in that. Have you looked into decentralized networks and cryptography?“
Other people: “Not much. I’m not super tech savvy.”
You are: “Do you think the separation of money and state is a good thing or a bad thing?“
Other people: “I think that’s a good thing. Inflation is really damaging and pushing the younger generation out of society. How much the older generation paid for a nice house with land compared to the current situation. It’s funny, honestly in my opinion it’s not very sustainable, but I’m no expert.”
You are: “Is it continuing or is it improving?”
Other people: “At this point, we will probably continue.”
You are: “What do you think are the viable alternatives?”
Other people: “I don’t know. Could you explain how Bitcoin works?”
Net: Others talk to Bitcoin.
Of course, it’s not always easy. But this simple change in your approach could be the difference between a newbie spending her 8 months of her life shitcoining instead of just starting with bitcoin from scratch.
In his book, Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion, Robert Cialdini states that humans have a deep psychological need to be perceived as consistent.
How can you use this principle when explaining Bitcoin to others?
Doing the work of understanding someone else’s specific context is much less frustrating than being aggressive or annoyed when you’re not looking at Bitcoin from your perspective.
Jumping straight to the dotted signature is the exact opposite of a pressured salesperson.
The best emotion you can evoke in someone when adopting new technology is curiosity.
Joshua Guest, who provides Bitcoin education at The HiFi Bitcoin Letters, says personal relevance is one of the biggest factors in early conversations. “There are few forces in the world that hold more power to change individuals and societies for the better than Bitcoin. Helping to learn what is relevant can have great consequences.”
You are already familiar with Bitcoin as a technology. Why is it not as familiar as explaining to a novice?
The higher the collective conversion rate as a community, the faster the network spreads and the faster fiat currency disappears.
Conclusion:
1. Persuasion beats power in Bitcoin
2. The psychology of persuasion is so complex that now is the time to start experimenting thoroughly
This is a guest post by Brooks Lockett. Opinions expressed are entirely his own and do not necessarily reflect those of his BTC Inc or Bitcoin Magazine.
