Oddbean

Successful orange pilling of a pre-coiner (PC) when I tell them I work on Bitcoin: PC: What is Bitcoin? Why is it valuable? Don't you have to mine it? First, what do you already know about Bitcoin? (Note: this is essential so you don't just start ranting at them) PC: (Uses a lot of energy to mine, not backed, can't touch it) Gold is valuable, but what property makes gold valuable? Out of all the things in the world, why gold? PC: It's rare! Exactly. The scarcity means that to find the next unit you have to spend a lot of energy and time. People can spend their entire lives digging and mining. PC: But doesn't it waste a ton of energy to mine Bitcoin? Bitcoin is also scarce so finding more Bitcoin requires a ton of energy. So you have to ask yourself if it's better to use electricity to find Bitcoin or to destroy mountains by mining for gold. (Note: this landed so hard that the rest of it was easy. We talked for another hour or so.)