I like to strike up conversations with people at my job. If they start talking about the economy or politics, I'll drop something about Bitcoin. However, if they are in the IT field or finance then I just come right out with it. So here is how those conversations went for me in the last week.
Person 1- 30 yrs in IT. He said he mined a block in 2009 for 50 Bitcoin that is lost to some wallet out there. I mentioned all the layer 2 development going on and the opportunity there. He raised an eyebrow.
Person 2 - IT security professional for a large corp. Asked him if he ever looked into Bitcoin. Nope. Not interested at all. Changed the subject. Possible smart guy, "lost it in a boating accident".
Person 3 - Retired lady, musician. She started talking about how paying people to stay home ruined everything. I mentioned monetary debasement and she agreed. Hmmm... Mentioned Bitcoin. Turns out that her retirement home puts out a news letter that warns people of scams, Bitcoin was on it. She also conflated Bitcoin with some of the exchange crash episodes. DIdn't have time to correct all her errors.
Person 4- This one was interesting. I don't recall his background, but he was cocky. He said he could have bought Bitcoin back in the 90's when it was pennies. I corrected his time traveling calendar, but he was sure of it. I ended that conversation with a mention of e-cash.
As a last mention, I had two customers who work for the Federal Reserve. So I asked their opinion of Bitcoin. Not because I actually want their opinion, but because I am judging them. As you would expect, they were both morons when it came to hard money.
I have to find a new approach.
41 sats \ 0 replies \ @Golu 17 Oct
I don't think you need to find anew approach but you need to find some new people and share some more conversations like this.
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Doing Satoshi's work. Person 3 reminded me that I got banned from Instagram for warning people not to trust custodial services like ftx. Maybe it was simply mentioning Bitcoin at the wrong time. I'll never know. Anyway it made me feel like FTX was a kind of theatre. Apologies if you were affected but I've not seen compelling real life stories to substantiate that scam's scale.
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Being a Bitcoin promoter is often a difficult task, but not impossible. Don't give up, friend @Slestak_Jack. Keep bringing people closer to the Digital Money Revolution. Remember Bitcoin is our refuge, Bitcoin is the future.
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Most of those people whom you conversed with are the products of diploma mills. They have diplomas for the sake of getting a higher paying job. The first person is suppose to be in the field where Bitcoin came about but unfortunately that guy is a liar. It is not even that hard to mine Bitcoin in 2009 so why would he even cry about sending it somewhere or nowhere. You can use an average PC and you can mine BTC right away. Since you don’t have mining pools back then there is no one out there whom can compete with you in terms of mining. The second guy is a real scammer he is just another guy whom is looking for freelance people online and hire them as the cheapest IT contractors and he will get credit for the job which was made by the contractor plus the compensation package. The lady musician was too lazy to put her life in order. Believed that Taylor Swift is famous and believed that Bitcoin is a scam although she is legit musician. The 4th guy is a liar. It was not BTC that came out in the 90s. You conversed with hopeless cases and I don’t know how you put up with them.
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We need everyone to be sharing these kinds of stories every week!
Currently I am working on a couple different people at the local Farmers Market every Saturday. They have Cash App but haven’t figured out the process to allow send and receive. I sent links to River and Strike. Hopefully those will be easier for her to setup. The rest at the farmers market haven’t heard of Bitcoin or Lightning.
This past week I got a new friend to setup daily buys after an initial large purchase using Strike. She also never heard of Bitcoin.
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Evangelizing is preaching in the desert. Don't throw pearls before swine, brother!!!
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I'd go for a wide, perpetual grin saying basically nothing until they're ready ;-)
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Wisdom there. I can't keep my mouth shut. I guess I'm looking for fellow travelers. Meetups are not close for me. So I may have to try hosting my own in the area and see what happens.
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I'll buidl a Rebel Nomad nest online, its complex but will work out, at least once I relocate for a while!
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0 sats \ 4 replies \ @nym 16 Oct
Good idea!
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I'm tired of hiding, now I'll buidl in open defiance!
Also all the tools are available now, its very different since the last halving...
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10 sats \ 2 replies \ @nym 16 Oct
Yes, the tools are much better, and you don't have to tell them everything, like about yourself.
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Normally I'd abuse our dogs phone & Gmail for shit, but now I don't care too much any longer...
The whole Beast Machine is breaking apart, so all I'll have to do the next couple of years is buidl & move around a bit!
Then we'll see around 2026-28, we'll all do very well or fight hard to survive offline...
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10 sats \ 0 replies \ @nym 16 Oct
Good idea. If we keep our online and offline skills sharp, we will be ready.
Interesting post.