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Opt-in now, or be assimilated later

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@tarazkp
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6 min read

For quite a few years, what I have done for a living is help people develop their skillsets on order to better cope professionally and personally. During this time, I have likely helped hundreds of people improve their experience on a number of fronts and in so doing, improve the experience of those around them too. This has enabled them to be better business owners, employees, partners, parents, friends in many ways, which I see as a compounding of the value I offer the individual, even though it is not directly attributable to me.

Yet, my wife doesn't listen to me at all.

But it isn't just her, professional skills and knowledge are often meaningless in personal relationships, as our family and friends know more about us than our profession, so life bleeds into their image of us and usually degrades our skills in their eyes. This means that our professional skills that are able to influence strangers, have very little affect over the people close to us.

Your words are too cheap

Part of the reason for this is the cost to acquire the information, as they are getting it for free, it doesn't hold value with them, even though someone else is willing to pay 100 dollars an hour for a chance to get the same information. What comes easily gets devalued in the marketplace as it doesn't seem scarce as after, it is being shared in a living room or around the dining table, so how valuable can it be?

But, while most other people are discussing what the singer was wearing on season 27 of Poptards, or how Nancy at work is a nosy bitch, some people are discussing things that actually matter - like the future of society or the economy that connects us to each other. But, they aren't discussing it in some conceptual way that is virtue signaling knowledge or care for the world, they are talking at a practical level, showing example models, concepts in practice.

Yet, the information is still "cheap" so most people don't pay much attention. Most people are interested to talk about the concepts or repeat a headline of an article they skimmed, but to actually get involved, very few are willing - even if there is no cost - *especially if there is no cost.

Show your interest

Lately, I am not interested in talking to people about crypto if they aren't already thinking about investing in, as I no longer care about convincing them of the industry. Sure, with people close to me I give them far more space and I am far more patient, but if they haven't take n the first steps to investigate the basics for themselves, I m not going to do it for them.

The reason is that from an economical perspective, I am wasting my time on them, as even if I do give them everything I know, it will never be enough for them to take the practical step for themselves, which is a must in crypto. These people will come in anyway, it is just that rather than being early adopters or even early majority, they will be forced into it later or, convinced by their "investment manager" to buy some crypto as the returns are 20% better than they are getting on their traditional investments - after they have missed out on 1000% gains in the last year or two.

Tonight I was talking with friends about crypto stuff after the conversation was led that way, but while interested, they also aren't interested. They like the idea of making money on it, but the problem is that in my opinion, without participating in order to understand how things are working, they are going to miss the real opportunities, as they will not see how the future is being shaped.

I'm coming, I'm coming!

Supposedly 1/3rd of Australians under 24 own crypto now and that has doubled since the start of the year. Don't people see where that leads? No. They don't. Even when reminded about how once upon a time, people with mobile phones were ridiculed and it was common to hear "I will never carry a phone with me" only for the same person owning one a few years later. And then, "What the hell would I need the internet on my phone for?" to a few years later, having a smartphone that is barely used for anything other than the internet.

People largely live their life unaware of the macro trends around them, because they consume the day to day trends. It is the same principal as, "when in doubt, zoom out" when people are worried about the "volatility" in crypto, but zooming out shows a far smoother trend line. Zoom out on the daily trends and you start to see an industry - zoom out further and you start to see the economy.

And it fractals, with the rules of supply and demand in play and affecting all layers, but to really understand and benefit financially from the economy, one has to own a part of it. There are many forms of ownership, but what makes something valuable is the demand on it. For example, owning residential land in the middle of nowhere where there are no services, is generally less valuable than owning land in the middle of a city. This is obvious, isn't it?

Geez, you're needy...

But digital property is the same, where what gives it value is the ability to firstly own it and then, the demand from wanting to own it. It doesn't matter if that same thing can be replicated digitally, it doesn't mean the replica has value. The Mona Lisa is priceless, a poster of the Mona Lisa is 5 dollars to cover the 50 cents in production and shipping costs. Scarcity matters and resources that are scarce like land and demand for it, are therefore valuable. The more people want it, the more they are willing to pay.

But digitally, when things can be copied essentially for free like an entire blockchain, the thing that gives them value is the demand, whether it be through ownership to hold or ownership to use. For example, at the end of the Splinterlands season someone was willing to rent one of my cards for 1800 DEC for the day, 1800 DEC is 24 HIVE or, 15 dollars. That seems crazy, but the card itself is worth about 1900 dollars, so 15 dollars to get its benefits is actually quite reasonable. Okay, it is still crazy perhaps. However, how many people rent a car at the specific times they need one because it is cheaper than owning one? Or take a taxi?

Property as a Service

But, the interesting thing in crypto on blockchains, is that there is all the digital land we can possibly ever demand, as we can make it ourselves. Crypto isn't scarce at all! We can all own as much as we can create! However, time and attention are scarce, so even if I cut and paste Splinterlands into my own version called Tarazlands, unless I can attract people to spend their time and attention there, it will remain Wastelands, with digital tumbleweed blowing through.

But, in order to understand how all of this connects to our daily lives, we really have to start participating and learning about the economy itself. Not the traditional economy, all economies. So much of what matters to us in our every day lives can be explored through these lenses and not only that, altered by the very uptake of the applications and services themselves, yet people are not interested - they would rather complain about Nosy Nancy.

Like it or not

But, this is okay, not everyone will choose to be an owner in the emerging economy at the start, but as it progresses, the new economy will capture more and more value to it through usage, buy-in and development structures built directly on top of it and financed by the user and investor bases from the get-go. What this means is that in time, like it or not, everyone on earth is going to be holding digital assets of some kind, even when they used to say,

I will never own crypto and there is no need for blockchains

Once people start improving their economic and financial literacy, and once they start participating directly, their own activity, their own improvements and gains, will start affect the experiences of those around them, compound and multiplying the value of activity. Tis leads to higher demand on all parts of the industry and when the industry itself is an economy, it affects all parts of everything we value - monetary and other.

I may be wrong. But I'm probably not.

Taraz [ Gen1: Hive ]

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