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Talked to a clueless colleague about bitcoin a little bit today. Here are some highlights:

  • Assumed no one actually believes in bitcoin and people only invest in it to unload on some other sucker
  • Didn't understand how it could function as a currency
  • Deeply concerned about it being "unregulated"
  • Thought SBF was getting a raw deal

I only explained a few points to him, since I really don't want anyone I work with associating me with bitcoin.

He got the fundamental difference between a decentralized currency and something with a central issuer.

He picked up why pretending to sell customers bitcoin that you don't have is more obviously fraud than minting and selling scam coin: you do receive the scam coin.

He was intrigued by the idea of paper bitcoin possibly accounting for the price slump and immediately decided that was an issue of too little regulation.

He was also shocked that medium of exchange use is rising. I only told him about Square terminals.

Why are you worried about people associating you with bitcoin?

I feel like if you just say that you are interested in it as a genuinely new monetary technology, not as an investment thesis or strong confidence that it'll change the world, then most economists will concede you that point.

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I neither like nor respect my colleagues enough to want to talk to them about it.

I’ve previously worked with people who I was much more open with.

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Ah that's too bad. It sounds like you semi respect this one though.

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Which is why I said anything to him about it

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180 sats \ 1 reply \ @Scoresby 9h

It's good to talk to people who aren't bitcoiners.

I've been thinking about doing a series of normie AMAs where we get a normie to come on SN and everybody can ask them questions.

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Yes, it is good to chat with normies and this particular colleague is a great option because

  1. He holds every normie view imaginable
  2. He's legitimately humble about how much he knows
  3. He's actually interested in stuff and doesn't generally think of ideas as being off limits
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