4 ms·

Any network-effect driven product is a cult.

JumpCrisscross 8y ago
> Any network-effect driven product is a cult "The term cult usually refers to a social group defined by its religious, spiritual, or philosophical beliefs, or its common interest in a particular personality, object or goal" [1]. Membership connotes devotion. That is different from network effects. For example, telephones benefit from network effects. Buying a telephone does not join one onto a cult. (Buying Bitcoin, alone, does not admit one into a cult, either. It’s the behaviour of the community around Bitcoin that exhibits cult-like tendencies.) [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cult https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cult
- xiphias 8y ago
  Bitcoin has less than 0.1% adoption rate, I can imagine that people who bought telephones at 0.1% adoption rate had a common interest.
- shobith 8y ago
  > Buying Bitcoin, alone, does not admit one into a cult, either. It’s the behaviour of the community around Bitcoin that exhibits cult-like tendencies. In that case, is Bitcoin really a cult? or is there a cult that is using Bitcoin?
  - deleted 8y ago
    [deleted]
scarejunba 8y ago
Like telephones? Since cancelling your cell phone plan will effectively cut you off from your parents?
shobith 8y ago
small correction: s/is/starts out as/g To the telephone counter-examples in the responses: early telephone users were probably "culty" until the mainstream adopted it for useful stuff.
- JumpCrisscross 8y ago
  > early telephone users were probably "culty" Telephones strapped onto the telegraph network. After that, they were “leased in pairs” [1]. It wasn’t until 1889 that switches were deployed. Only the could these bilateral-only phones begin talking to each other. (This is also when network effects began emerging.) TL; DR Telephones, like most useful technology, established themselves in a small niche and then scaled from that base. Its success in its niche wasn’t driven by zeal, but by usefulness. [1] https://www.thoughtco.com/history-of-the-telephone-alexander-graham-bell-1991380 https://www.thoughtco.com/history-of-the-telephone-alexander...

> Any network-effect driven product is a cult "The term cult usually refers to a social group defined by its religious, spiritual, or philosophical beliefs, or its common interest in a particular personality, object or goal" [1]. Membership connotes devotion. That is different from network effects. For example, telephones benefit from network effects. Buying a telephone does not join one onto a cult. (Buying Bitcoin, alone, does not admit one into a cult, either. It’s the behaviour of the community around Bitcoin that exhibits cult-like tendencies.) [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cult https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cult

xiphias 8y ago
Bitcoin has less than 0.1% adoption rate, I can imagine that people who bought telephones at 0.1% adoption rate had a common interest.
shobith 8y ago
> Buying Bitcoin, alone, does not admit one into a cult, either. It’s the behaviour of the community around Bitcoin that exhibits cult-like tendencies. In that case, is Bitcoin really a cult? or is there a cult that is using Bitcoin?
- deleted 8y ago
  [deleted]

scarejunba 8y ago

Like telephones? Since cancelling your cell phone plan will effectively cut you off from your parents?

shobith 8y ago

small correction: s/is/starts out as/g To the telephone counter-examples in the responses: early telephone users were probably "culty" until the mainstream adopted it for useful stuff.

JumpCrisscross 8y ago
> early telephone users were probably "culty" Telephones strapped onto the telegraph network. After that, they were “leased in pairs” [1]. It wasn’t until 1889 that switches were deployed. Only the could these bilateral-only phones begin talking to each other. (This is also when network effects began emerging.) TL; DR Telephones, like most useful technology, established themselves in a small niche and then scaled from that base. Its success in its niche wasn’t driven by zeal, but by usefulness. [1] https://www.thoughtco.com/history-of-the-telephone-alexander-graham-bell-1991380 https://www.thoughtco.com/history-of-the-telephone-alexander...