Hey, Steemians! What's up?!
My name is Anders. I'm 32 and from Minneapolis.
I am writing from the bottom of a rabbit hole, having been lured down here--like many of you, I presume--by cryptocurrency. I found Steemit because I found Bitcoin (bought my first mBTCs on October 20th, 2017!). I bought because I learned about blockchain technology, and I found that as I was learning about trends in the field of accounting, for which I'm currently sending myself back to school.
My Facebook friends can attest that I've become very enthusiastic about Bitcoin and blockchain, although I've only been able to narrow down two people I know from real life that own cryptocurrency. Only two people. That seems small, right?! I don't know, I guess all the rest of my friends are yet not sure what to make of it.
The "interaction"
The only other person in my social network brave enough to post about Bitcoin is a dude I know from the local underground music scene. He writes articles for the local arts weekly, has a band, probably hosts punk shows in his basement and stuff. And he is prolific on Facebook. Hundreds of people commonly like his posts for their wry, counter-cultural wit. Recently, he boasted, "How do I beat the final boss of Facebook?" And the other day he turned his critical lens toward Bitcoin. I guess it's fair to say he's more than just a cryptoskeptic; he's a cryptohater.
He wrote:
really excited for this bitcoin thing to take over so i can be a poor and worthless piece of shit to an entirely new group of people who i consider to be immoral and delusional pricks
In subsequent comments, he envisioned a "cannibal dustbowl" future where a super-currency encouraged limitless consumerism and materialism at the expense of the environment. It had 143 likes and didn't make any sense, so I had to speak up.
I said:
Crypto is going to (p)redistribute wealth and power. You’ll love it.
Him:
so you mean instead of white people having all the money it will be even whiter people who can build computers? cant fucking wait
certainly there is no recorded history of people becoming spontaneously powerful and turning into assholes/losing their minds
At this point, I explained to him that practically every post-Satoshi crypto dev and early investor has by now found a way to let greed sully their reputation, and that critics and satirists on Twitter are keeping the big players in the community honest. We actually need people like him to join the fray.
Him:
oh cool so instead of capitalism regulating the market it will be social capitalism regulating the market
I said that's just what's going on right now in 2017, and that the real regulation happens within the computer code, which decentralizes power by design. I'm trying to explain this for him easily and politely, of course.
But then I had to go back and challenge his earlier statement about "whiter people who can build computers." Understanding it as a comment on unequal global distribution of wealth, I gave several examples how crypto has the potential to do exactly the opposite. Hyperinflation in Venezuela, Zimbabwe and elsewhere causing folks to mine Bitcoin. The unbanked. The broken remittance system. The potential for registering the land and property of an entire nation on a trustless ledger, allowing people to borrow and start small businesses.
It became clear his concern hit a little closer to home:
WHY CANT I JUST SIT HERE AND BE FUNNY AND KIND OF NICE AND NOT GROPE PEOPLE AND WHEN YOU BENEVOLENT FUCKERS SuBvErT ThE PaRaDiGm I CAN JUST SIT HERE AND BE GIVEN ENOUGH MONEY TO LIVE AND SOMETIMES EAT A HAMBURGER
Getting the sense that he feared being suddenly left with neither dollar nor bitcoin to rub together, I reassured him that blockchain technology would reward him with money if he just continued to create good content. That's a lot more than Facebook does for him. Clearly, though, he wasn't quite ready to join a community like Steemit.
Then:
ANDERS, THE ANSWER TO THE QUESTION OF HOW MUCH MONEY DO PEOPLE NEED TO STOP BEING PIECES OF SHIT IS THAT THERE IS NO AMOUNT OF MONEY THAT WILL STOP PEOPLE FROM BEING PIECES OF SHIT
call it a dollar or a bitcoin, its all a fucking game of lucky winners and unfortunate losers to me
I explained that there was no reason to think cryptocurrency would exacerbate the problem of wealth distribution, and there was only indications that it would help fix the problem. This was an understatement: Blockchain is likely the only thing that could feasibly solve this problem.
Him:
is it less logical than presuming that redistributing wealth to DIFFERENT haves and have nots and preserving a "merit based" economic system of winners and losers will fix it?
Me:
If it's meritocracy that you're opposed to, then you should know that blockchain technology would make a universal basic income much easier than if we were trying to do it in fiat currency, though even still, the UBI proposal is gaining momentum.
I told him that maybe eventually we'll all get zapped with FedCoin, so he can buy his burgers without having to do anything, except use FedCoin.
That's basically it...
Now, why did I share this story with you? Not because I think it's important that all crypt-enthusiasts engage and challenge their skeptical friends on social media. Not because any of his or my arguments are very valid, instructive, or relevant.
I shared the story because now you know much more about me--where I'm coming from, who I'm dealing with, what I'm thinking and believing--than you would have if I just listed a handful of facts.
If you're interested in reading more of my ideas and writing, follow me on Twitter 
Thanks!
Anders