Singularity, transhumanism, Gurdjieff's ray of creation, dot com's "new economy", and now this crypto mania, all make me feel the same way: I have no idea what

Singularity, transhumanism, Gurdjieff's ray of creation, dot com's "new economy", and now this crypto mania, all make me feel the same way: I have no idea what prople are talking about. I'm like the guy in Brave New World: I let out a moan when everyone else climaxes, just to fit in. If everyone else is hitting ectasty, I must be doing something wrong. Or. Everyone else is faking it too. -- I just powered thru the Ezra Klein episode with a16z's Katie Haun, who's apparently a crypto expert. Because maybe I am wrong and just not getting it. (Not unheard of.) Phrases like "digital asset class" and "scarce digital goods" are like koans. One hand clapping, dry water, solid air. I love a good paradox as much as the next geek, but come on. These people know they're full of shit, right? It's just a grift, right? -- What is scarcity in a digital medium? If we wanted to be serious about this stuff. The only two things I can think of are attention and trust. Any others? I can't imagine how bitcoin et al relate to attention (distinct from effort, like PoW). I'm pretty keen about the trust stuff. I've spent too much time thinking about trust wrt voting systems and medical records. But here's the thing: current high trust solutions are also low privacy. Worse, the current crypto currencies are both low trust and low privacy. So I really don't get the point. -- I really wish I didn't understand the nature of these things. A lot of clowns are getting rich by purposely not understanding. I feel like a moron sitting on the sidelines. Having some kind of rudimentary sense of ethics really sucks sometimes.