Oddbean

I get it mate. This is my day job talking - taking normies through complicated things which they intuit they want/need, but they can’t put their finger on why or what or how exactly. I always thought there’d be tons of my type in Bitcoin but there’s like 4 of us. But I don’t focus on their skull density; I let them tell me in their own words what that pain looks like and I adapt my spiel/orangepilling to them, and then meet them where they are. Pills don’t go down well when forced. I try to make sure Im never forcing things down their throat and when I have to employ aeroplanes it’s because I know what’s best and they don’t yet but I’m gonna feed them. It’s weird when you get into this position, but after some time you realise it’s necessary.

Honestly, the best orange pill is just being rich. Like most people, I ignored Bitcoin for a long time… then, someone I trust mentioned the then-current $ amount of his Bitcoin position and it got my attention. He didn’t have to discuss inflation, difficulty adjustments or UTXOs… he only had to be rich. This obviously only works in circles of extreme trust, which are quite uncommon.

You were reference sold. That works sometimes, most will want to triangulate that datapoint (usually ~3rd step) rather than trust it alone but sounds like you trusted him enough to “buy” on that alone. That’s not the common experience though. Already rich people are the easiest to orange pill because they already get fiat for the most part; Bitcoiners are just showing them how to stop the bleeding. Reference selling usually only works for small amounts, ie doubtful you put all your wealth into BTC based on hearing just that chat. It’s a good icebreaker, it’s not good for scale.

You are 100% correct. “Got my attention” …not, became a maxi on that alone. I then triangulated with another trusted friend, bought a small amount, learned, bought, learned, bought, learned… The scaling solution is the suite of resources that are now available for those interested in building conviction.