Twenty years ago I was building computers. The Zipdisk was going from 100MB to 250MB. All of us were saying, "wow, that's a quarter Gig!" I was helping older people with their computers.
Sometime between then and now, I got fat, ugly, and really, really old? I got left behind in the massive tech movement. Thus, the screen name, cryptomoron! If any of you are old like me, you will remember a television show back in the 70's called Hogan's Hero's. Sergeant Schultz was always saying "I know nothing." That is exactly the was I feel today, "I know nothing." The learning curve is very steep for the cryptos and block chain. The research I've done is not very "moron friendly." If this industry is to survive, it must come out of the abstract, and down to a level that I can understand.
I'm a big Coast to Coast fan, and have been since Art Bell found the Seattle airwaves. On November 24th Stan Larimer was a guest. Although I had researched a little about this thing called "block chain" and I had been following the tremendous rise in value of Bitcoin, I really was ignorant. Stan was and is able to put sentences together in which I can understand. He speaks out of the abstract. I was again impressed with his explanations when he was a guest on Coast to Coast on Christmas Eve.
Although I have a wide background, part of that background is as a Certified Financial Planner (retired). Anybody who watches the Fed, keeps current on our Central Bank, knows about the Bank of International Settlements, has heard about the new fiat {the SDR (Special Drawing Right)}, and wonders how long it will be before our debt of 20+ trillion dollars comes crashing down upon us, has so agree with Stan's perspective on the one-world currency.
I would somehow like to be part of the transition team? In the last ten years, perhaps as many as a million people world wide have been experiencing this "geek" trend called block chain. I'm guessing at that number as I really have no idea. Even if that number is five times, or ten times off, my point is the same, there are seven billion people on earth, maybe four billion that are active in one way or another in business, either on the consumer end, or in business.
This industry, should it develop, is in its infancy. Although I've looked, I can't find anything, that speaks to me, the cryptomoron, that helps bring the abstract to a level that I can understand. Stan is a communicator, so I know there is hope for me!
However, as developed as websites are today, breaking into this new industry is very foreign. There is no help. If there is, and I do apologize if I have missed the link out there, but it seems to be more of me and my horse riding all alone into the sunset. I can offer three examples of my frustration.
After visiting a number of sites and watching YouTube videos, it became apparent that to do anything with a crypto currency, you first had to have Bitcoin. Is that true? How do you buy one? How do you pick an exchange? Where is the rating system? Where is the dictionary so I can understand the terminology?
I chose Coinbase. Why, I don't really know? That is really upsetting to me. I tend to be more logical, more methodical. I like to know the height of the cliff before I jump off of it. It wasn't easy. I thought I would link one of my bank accounts to the site so I could buy a little Bitcoin. Then it asked for my login name and password to the bank! Hell no! In today's world in which the NSA can be hacked into and Coinbase wants my login name and password, WOW, totally blew my mind, no way. I settled for a credit card transaction. All along, Coinbase wanted to send me text messages to verify that I am who I say I am, I get it. However, I don't live in an area with good cell coverage. My landline doesn't get messages. It was a pain and quite problematic. Do I wait another ten years to start getting involved?
Although Stan mentioned it on Christmas Eve, I did finally find wallet.bitshares.org, and when there asked myself, "what do I do now?" There is a lot of neat stuff, don't ask me what it means or how it works though. I tried to transfer some of my Bitcoin to the Bitshare site, I have no idea whether it worked or not? It cost me over $23 to transfer $100. I thought this block chain technology was supposed to reduce costs of transferring money? Which brings me to another topic, fees in general. It cost me $7 just to buy some Bitcoin. Part of my paranoia wonders if all these fees are part of an elaborate Ponzi scheme? Sorry folks, people are making some serious money here, and I'm just trying to understand the utility of it. Do I wait another ten years to start getting involved?
Finally, Steemit. Although I have a Facebook account, I don't use it. I don't have a Twitter account. I don't blog. At the bottom of this page it asks if I want to "tag." I don't even know what that means? I am the Village idiot. I don't know if my rant this afternoon will post because I'm not sure if I'm logged in? When I tried to log in, Steemit told me that my log in name, cryptomoron, didn't exist? Yet, it gave me a password? When I didn't get logged in, I clicked on the email link again and got a second, different, password? When I tried to log in with that password, it again told me that it didn't recognize my log in name? Stan, if you read this, do you sense my frustration? Does this industry understand that you need me worse than I need you? I can go back to using my Visa card just fine. If I need to send money to Ethiopia, it seems to be much easier just to pay my bank the $40? Saving less than half that is not worth the frustration. Do I wait another ten years to start getting involved?
I'm not here today to poke at Stan Larimer. If anything I'm here to praise him. I'm not here today to rip one on a fledgling new industry. If anything, I want to help with the transition to this new industry. There are more people like me, than you may think. I want to be part of a community that helps one another. I want to be part of a community that is willing to help bring each other up the steep learning curve. I want to help others to avoid the frustrations that I have already encountered. Can you help me? Can we help each other?