After diving down the Bitcoin rabbit hole and re-emerging with a new paradigm it took me a while to be able to step back into my old paradigm and see things through my old eyes and through the eyes of my pre-Bitcoin friends and family who thought of Bitcoin as an investment similar to company shares.

When I did, I laughed out loud at how ridiculous I must look through their paradigm. Imagine if you told everyone you were going to travel locally, interstate or internationally to meet up with a bunch of strangers who, almost instantly, become some of your favourite people on the planet, to discuss BHP shares for hours/days on end and have the best time EVER doing it.  

Once I had that moment of understanding it gave me the empathy and patience to explain to pre-Bitcoiners that Bitcoin is not an investment. Bitcoin is a base layer shift in the protocol of inter-human communication.  

What is Bitcoin communicating? Value. 

 Bitcoin is money & as a people, we've forgotten what money is. 

Bitcoin helps us to remember that money is chosen by individuals rather than imposed by an authority. You can't force me as an individual to value your money. 

It also turns out that money is vastly more important than most people realise. Money communicates preferences since value itself is subjective. It is this dance of moving preferences that orientates the activity of humans around the globe. Without money, we have no free markets & no way to communicate our preferences.

Once you figure that out, you realise that this Bitcoin stuff is kind of a big deal.