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How do you think bitcoin started ? You'd had to be crazy to believe in it 9 years ago, and spend time and energy in the community, nlt to lention monney, to fos
by sametmax 8y ago
How do you think bitcoin started ? You'd had to be crazy to believe in it 9 years ago, and spend time and energy in the community, nlt to lention monney, to foster the project.
My family and friends said i was stupid, utopist, being conned, wasting my time, and so lany things.
Btc was banana money at first, and only people believing it would be a great thing as a concept made it work. We didn't expect to make banks, it was a happy side effect of a mad naive bet.
All great things start like that. Comics are now the thing, but 20 years ago were still for pationate nerds.
- SideburnsOfDoom 8y ago> My family and friends said i was stupid, utopist, being conned, wasting my time, and so lany things. ... All great things start like that. "But the fact that some geniuses were laughed at does not imply that all who are laughed at are geniuses. They laughed at Columbus, they laughed at Fulton, they laughed at the Wright Brothers. But they also laughed at Bozo the Clown." -- Carl Sagan https://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/carl_sagan_163043 https://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/carl_sagan_163043
- paulgb 8y ago“First they think you're crazy, then they fight you, then you change the world.” - Elizabeth Holmes
- mandeepj 8y agoI don't think she is the original author of this quote. Going to share another quote, which I think is relative here - “Those who are crazy enough to think they can change the world usually do.” - Steve Jobs
- WilliamEdward 8y agoI feel like the "usually" is pretty important here.
- akhilcacharya 8y agoShe's not, that's the punchline!
- ithkuil 8y agoSadly those you think are too crazy to change the world, usually are
- saalweachter 8y agos/Sadly/Thankfully/
- Fnoord 8y agoThe irony is that she was a Steve Jobs fangirl, or copycat if you will.
- dsr_ 8y agoIf Jobs had been just a little less crazy, he might still be changing the world.
- nkkollaw 8y agoDid he actually write that piece of the commercial? Or any Apple commercial becomes a Steve Jobs quote.
- jcranmer 8y agoElizabeth Holmes, who is currently on trial for fraud charges for covering up the fact that her magic blood testing machine was too magic to work in the real world.
- enraged_camel 8y agoI think that was the joke (although admittedly sometimes you can’t tell on HN).
- paulgb 8y agoI can confirm that that was the joke :)
- rohan1024 8y agoIt's not exactly same but the quote credit goes to https://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/mahatma_gandhi_103630 https://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/mahatma_gandhi_103630
- pault 8y agoThat's the joke.
- sametmax 8y agoWe were talking about being genuine, and here you come implying I brag that I was smart. That's really rude.
- jessaustin 8y agoYou're rich now, so you have to get used to this.
- bhaak 8y agoBut they were right to laugh at Columbus. He was right for the wrong reasons. Of course, if you don't ever try it, you can never be right for any reasons. Bitcoin is IMO likely somewhere in between. It kickstarted a new concept in IT but money is a really simple (although powerful) usecase. I'm more interested what will be done with the concept in the future.
- pygy_ 8y ago> But they were right to laugh at Columbus. He was right for the wrong reasons. He wasn't even right. He was wrong in his estimation of the earth circumference, and lucky that America was there between both oceans...
- ttoinou 8y agoHe didn't say he was a genius. He seemed to imply he's the one laughing at people with all his well-earned money now :)
- puranjay 8y agoIt's a little ingenuous to use the word 'genius' for people who put gas money into a meme currency 9 years ago
- astazangasta 8y agoBitcoin doesn't work in any meaningful sense. It can't be used for purchases in most contexts and you can't use it as a stable store of value. It is also controlled by dubious actors and mining is a horribly destructive practice, both in terms of environmental waste and the constant nuisance of people stealing CPU time. But you were saying?
- trophycase 8y agoIf you're saying "Bitcoin doesn't work in any meaningful sense" you simply just haven't used Bitcoin. It works absolutely fine, even great most of the time, and accomplishes what I personally see as its purpose.
- kadendogthing 8y agoYep. Perfectly fine as tech beanie babies.
- sametmax 8y agoAs a POC of an alternative medium of paiement. As an idea, a hope, the starting point for iterating on the future of money. As a way to make the society think and debate. And as all that, I think it had been successful.
- kadendogthing 8y agoWhat exactly are your measures for success?
- driverdan 8y agoIn what way? * Mining has become highly centralized, the opposite of its original intent. * Transaction fees are too high to justify its use in every day transactions and small transfers. * Very few merchants accept it for every day transactions, and the number has decreased over time.
- cherafel 8y ago
- kevinmchugh 8y ago20 years ago marvel declared bankruptcy because of major missteps following a speculation bubble in the early 90s. Despite being a dominant force in film, they're selling poorly today.
- GrumpyNl 8y agoBTC will always be banana money.
- SideburnsOfDoom 8y agoI disagree, one day it will be a footnote in a history book about banana money. Sooner than some think.
- chrisco255 8y agoLet's add this to the list of Bitcoin obituaries that countless people have declared over the past 9 years. Every year that goes on and the network is still kicking is just building its base value. Bitcoin network will out live Hacker News.
- Foivos 8y agoIt does not really matter how it started but how it is now. I would bet that all these selfless visionary nerds who believed in bitcoin from day 1, now are less than 0.1% of the people who deal with bitcoin today. The rest 99.9% are there for the easy money. At least, this is what I see from my surroundings and the feeling I get from the internet. It might have started great, but it got alienated along the way.
- bobwaycott 8y agoYou’re quite noticeably not answering the parent’s question, while simultaneously proving their point.