Crypto Crash and The Search For Meaning While We All Go Broke

in #partiko6 years ago

Much talk has been circulating for years about what crypto’s “killer app” will be and I believe it’s not going to be just an app that brings the mainstream to crypto. I believe it’s going to be the combination a user-centric, functional killer app that solves people’s problems, PLUS a friendly developer team who has a vision beyond the confines of ego and lambo fanaticism. The team will contain a good leader who wants to create good experiences for all people.

Egos destroy villages.

Egos also destroy the original dream of the cypher punks who started all this crypto stuff. If you’re not sure whether your ego is destroying the village, check with your friends (if you have any real ones left.) Narcissists usually don’t surround themselves with real authentic people, because real people cannot stand to be around them. If what I am saying makes you squirm, there’s a good chance your ego is destroying the village and you’re a full blown narcissist incapable of seeing how your vapid greed is infecting everyone and everything around you.

What I am talking about may sound drastic, but it does look like the tribalism, combined with insatiable greed is eroding the crypto revolution and turning it into the exact greed-centric system which crypto was set on disrupting in the beginning. Without any adherence to deep philosophy, and with full-blown psychopaths at the helm, crypto will just turn into a millionaire’s playground and the dreams of bringing financial freedom to the masses, and breaking down the walls of a broken system will remain just a ridiculous fantasy, one that is just easily
crushed by vulnerabilities and weaknesses of the human greed gene run amok.

Crypto will go into hibernation, and even though it will certainly evolve at a later date, it will not develop and live its full potential to bring humanity and the planet to a higher level. Just look at some examples in history to see how large systems of greed and power snuffed out movements that could have evolved humanity for the better. There are plenty of examples. Start with Nikola Tesla, who wanted everyone on the planet to have free energy….

All of us probably share the same 95% of a similar mindset if you’re reading this right now. We may disagree on the 5%, as we weigh the pros and cons of certain technologies, but the reality is, we share more similar things than differences. We all want to survive, make money, feel useful to society, be recognized, be heard, and share experiences with like-minded people (well the vast majority of us do..minus the psychopaths)… We want our lives to have meaning. We want our energy to go towards something that will not only clothe our families, but will enrich the lives of others who need our help.

The fragile mainstream herd needs safe options, and they will choose the candy bar whose wrapper is easy to take off and which looks good. We all need to remember that regular people need to feel safe. Crypto is a scary place, and I remember the fear pretty well. Stories of hackers and unsafe tech is rampant. People need to feel like they are safe and not risking their entire life savings when trying something new. Infighting among small-minded tribes makes XRP look like a good option. You see where this is going? XRP is not the dream of Satoshi……XRP is like Satoshi’s nightmare. XRP is number 2 now according to market cap.

Crypto in its current state is not going in the direction of joining forces, collaborating and working to accelerate human progress, and providing solid alternatives to the system that mostly enslaves human beings. It’s going in a negative direction with massive egos at the helm, and I’m not just talking about the markets right now. (this is not financial advice)

What about friendly developers? What does that have to do with all this?

A lot of developers seem to be anti-social and not particularly patient with noobs. This is a problem. Friendly developers are in demand. They are the rarest breed. They will make a difference. They are making a difference.

Leaders who understand how to bring people together and who understand common sense things like how to treat others will achieve greater success than ego-driven maniacs. Good leaders lead by example, but great leaders find leaders within everyone, and inspire people to lift the world from within. True leaders don’t have to impress anyone, as they have reached a level of comfort with understanding their own authenticity and inner value. They can focus their energy on others, finding natural leaders, lifting them up, changing one life at a time.

There is nothing to look for outside yourself.

You contain the value that the world has long ignored. This is the “secret” that few understand and that has eluded people forever. This is why people are in search of something outside of themselves, something external. But it’s all there. It’s in our hands.

You just have not taken the time to properly value that stuff inside yourself, and you don’t have the tools to figure out what steps to take next. The people around you probably have ignored it as well. When I wrote my first book, not many people in my life thought it was important. My relatives never bothered to read it. It didn’t matter to them.

It mattered to me though. It mattered to me a lot.

That was enough. People showed up later who liked my book and told me so. It mattered to them…but I would have never met them if I hadn’t written that book. A meaningful life is created around what you value and you find authentic people by standing up for what you believe in.

This is inspired by finding the friendly developer of @partiko. Of course the app is great (mostly 5 stars in the Appstore and Google Play), but what I really value is the decent human being behind the project. I learn something every day from @crypto.talk. I learn how to be a better person. It’s not the shitty markets we need to fixate on, it’s thinking of the amazing people we have met along the way who have changed us for the better…..that’s what I intend to do more of, even when the markets go up. Remember the peer-to-peer part of this crypto movement, and don’t forget it.

Posted using Partiko iOS

Sort:  

I am super new to crypto, like only a few months into it (and there's a STEEP learning curve,) so I never new the HALCYON DAYS of Lambos and early retirement. Just this morning, I watched a couple of videos created by former Steemit enthusiasts who were talking about how this platform has betrayed it's user base, and how the platform isn't sustainable because it doesn't have an advertising revenue stream and is, therefore, a big scam that helps the rich get richer while keeping the new folks poor and powerless... However, speaking as a new adopter of the platform, (I'm three weeks old today,) I have to say that I love this place. I've already connected with several folks through Steemit who I never would have met any other way.

I've read articles written by a street artist who sells prints for food money and seeks out hostels to shower in; I found a guy who posts adverts and images from old comics and pop culture memorabilia and we've swapped a few comments; I've connected with one or two artists who are also active on DADA.nyc, and I can see some of the artwork they create outside of that platform (which has very limited creation tools!) To me, these experiences have REAL VALUE. Maybe these aren't big MONEY MAKING opportunities, but so what? The folks who are angry because they can't make hundreds of dollars per post anymore, who only see value in dollar signs, have an extremely limited understand of what can be valuable (if you ask me.)

I've been writing and drawing for forty years, and I've been sharing my work on social networks for at least the last ten years WITHOUT making money for my creations. (I draw and write because I love to draw and write,) and now, with this new (TO ME) platform, I can share my work, get some interesting feedback, and maybe make a few cents for my work (or in one case almost TWENTY BUCKS! To me, that's big money!) I can also give someone whose writing or art or photography I enjoy some love (and a fraction of a penny... I'm still really new...)

As far as making money goes, I have ALREADY made more from writing on this platform that I have in six years of posting on WordPress---and that's in just three weeks! Sure, I haven't made that much in ECONOMIC value, but that's not the only thing that I'm creating for. I've also had people make interesting comments on my work (genuine engagement, or at least the appearance of engagement---maybe they were just fishing for my .001 up-vote cash---but I try to be optimistic;) I had one post get over 400 up-votes (in the 120 book reviews posted to my other social media networks, I've never had more than a dozen or a dozen and a half "likes" on a single review before,) and I've had a crash course in this weird cryptocurrency / blockchain world that's been happening right under my nose for almost a decade without ever coming to my attention before. (I love to learn new things, so this was a cool discovery for me.)

My point is that for me, having not lived through the "good-old-days" of cryptocurrency being a path to instant fortune, I'm excited by this new, more dismal environment, which requires hard work, engagement, and genuine interest to make any headway. I'm drawn to Steemit for its potential to be a new venue to share my art and writing, to find new creative types with whom I can swap stories and art and pop-culture references, and I'm excited by the possibility of making even a few pennies at a time for the work that I've been creating and posting online since about 2004 with ZERO compensation. It may not seem like much of a return on a creator's effort anymore, compared to the "beautiful dream" that the platform started as, but it's still giving a new user (like me) a fun, challenging, novel experience, and I'm going to give it a whirl for a while!

P.S. - I read a few of your articles about Partiko, and although I'm not using it RIGHT NOW, I have started using it on my phone to browse through people posts and like and comment, particularly when I'm away from the computer. (I'm not very good at phones, so I still prefer to write with a keyboard---TECHNICALLY, I still like to write with ink in a no-lined notebook...but I digress.) Partiko is a solid app, and I'm pleased to learn that the creators are decent folks!

This is an awesome response and worthy of an entire post! Thank you 🙏

Posted using Partiko iOS

1 sheep 2 sheep 3 sheep ...

Sheep will lead the way to adoption

Posted using Partiko iOS

General people are always looking for shepherds aka centralized companies to manage their funds. Crypto needs a lot of ethical shepherds who aren't going to scam people and bring them to crypto (e.g Binance, Coinbase etc). As for the current state of Steem:

I want to say something, but I won't, because it's just going to turn into me bitching about how those who don't give a shit and that behavior is evident even all over the trending page here. People willing to stomp on another's work just so they can extract a few votes out of naive sheep who kiss their asses with the hopes of getting a vote for themselves. Fucking gong show... oops, sorry. I've said too much and now people will hate me more.

Why should new technology like Blockchain help humans to overcome any of our psychological and emotional problems like greed? Every human for himself has to deal with his attitude and perspective of life. For me, the Blockchain technology only opens the door to more possibilities in life. And since do many people are already working and developing this applications we will see the success in the nesr future.
Don't make yourself crazy with prices thats the same psycho trap like in the hype phase...keep buying cheap Steem!
In that state that we humans are the powers of the worl lays in the hands of the rich and wealthy. And the

Posted using Partiko Android

I resonate strongly with this! This whole BCH thing recently really pissed me off. And XRP fandom, that cares not a whit about whether it’s genuine crypto or not, just wanting the money, is just as annoying. I truly hope that actual crypto is what comes out on top over the next few years, and with it the democratic money we’d hoped for.

Posted using Partiko iOS

Humans don’t have a good track record. We have to step up before the psychopaths take over again.

Posted using Partiko iOS

...to assume that they ever left , would be a very dangerous assumption..

And btw I’m not just talking about BCH

Posted using Partiko iOS

If we are lucky someone will develop the app even sheep can understand. I would like to say it wouldn't be much of a surprise to me - I'm old enough to have dealt with many disappointments, but I was kinda hoping my kids would have a better future... we'll see!

When I wrote my first book, not many people in my life thought it was important. My relatives never bothered to read it. It didn’t matter to them.

My daughter recently published her first book and as you say nobody gave a fuck!

Hello dear @stellabelle :)

I commend you for taking time to write this article . You did a great job. Honestly the market is just frustrating i must say. I have been depressed lately because of the low market in crypto generally.

But reading your post has rekindled my hope.

Thank you!

I’m glad it did something positive .

Posted using Partiko iOS

There was a bubble. Now we are dealing with the fallout. HODL!

This isn't fallout... This is pure manipulation, It clearly written all over the market

Always look at the bubble, not the crash. I thought BTC had peaked way back at $2500. We may drop there, or return to a $5000 equilibrium, or hit new highs. Only time will tell. But these are the growing pains of a new technology that hasn't hit the mainstream yet.Crypto is still in its version of the 90s tech boom with rampant speculation and many dead ends. It will take time.

The BCH drama is just a part of that.

crypto will just turn into a millionaire’s playground and the dreams of bringing financial freedom to the masses, and breaking down the walls of a broken system will remain just a ridiculous fantasy

I’m pretty sure crypto has primarily been this way for a while now. While the development of projects/tools/those mysterious killer apps rely on investment from those who benefit from the status quo, nothing will change.

We could move beyond the millionaires’ playground, but few millionaires (or billionaires) will fund anything going in this direction. Relying on this is like waiting for the government to tell you how to overthrow it - they might make a mistake, but would never deliberately do such a thing.

(On a related note, when cooperating with governments, even grossly unjust regimes, is more profitable than resistance, you can largely forget about help from the aforementioned millionaires in that regard.)

Every new technology started as a millionaire's playground. Radio, TV, automobiles, computers, VCRs, the internet... It is the risk-takers with the wealth to spare who lay the foundations for progress. Sometimes they win big, sometimes they lose everything. Crypto has turned this around somewhat when new coins can be mined independently, or in the case of STEEM, earned by adopting the platform early and creating quality content.

So nice to make your acquaintance @stellabelle, I am also very new on #Steemit, joined in July but only just started a couple of weeks back. I also share many of your opinions about #crypto and feel that this dive in the market will bring fresh interest in #crypto. All the wonderful people who have put so much of their lives into this amazing platform, investing, writing, making videos, developing partnerships, friendships and technology are the backbone of what we can now be part of. I am still as excited as I was a few weeks ago and I just bought my first #crypto in order to power up and have more freedom to post.
I hope we can be friends, I’ll spend some time reading your other posts enjoying your art.

Such a nice comment! I’m following you now

Posted using Partiko iOS

Thank you, appreciate new followers and I promise to do more posting from now on.(since I did a couple of small power ups) still reading...

What is wrong with XRP?

It is centralized and has a single point of failure. And it will dump to zero if the company wallets get hacked.

You are not supposed to hold more than a few cents worth of XRPs. They are merely stamps used to pay for each transaction in the hawala network. The hawala network is distributed. That is even better than decentralized networks. People using Ripple doesn’t care about XRPs. It is not the point of the system.

https://www.coindesk.com/ripple-medieval-banking-digital-twist

F59B4B33-1784-4431-B1FD-AEB77F423EB2.png

Pretty potent writing, @stellabelle; thank you for the insight and the opinion (this is not financial advice)!!!

I agree in most points - egos and tribalism is destroying the entire movement at the moment. Thanks for sharing your thoughts which are well thought as usual and one can feel you indeed take care of others.

You just have not taken the time to properly value that stuff inside yourself, and you don’t have the tools to figure out what steps to take next.

Amen to that.

Hi @stellabelle!

Your post was upvoted by @steem-ua, new Steem dApp, using UserAuthority for algorithmic post curation!
Your UA account score is currently 7.114 which ranks you at #79 across all Steem accounts.
Your rank has not changed in the last three days.

In our last Algorithmic Curation Round, consisting of 212 contributions, your post is ranked at #2. Congratulations!

Evaluation of your UA score:
  • Your follower network is great!
  • The readers appreciate your great work!
  • Good user engagement!

Feel free to join our @steem-ua Discord server

great post ... STEEM doesn't have to be all things to all people. there are nearly 8 billion people in the world. if we can be meaningful to a few 10 million of them or so, we will be a player in blockchain space, no doubts at all. we just have to hold together, if so, good things will come imho

Hi @stellabelle, I appreciate what you write on this blog so I added you to the list of people I support via steemdunk.xyz. You were the original source I came to Steem in the first place after reading your article on Medium about 11 months ago.