Persuasion works when explaining Bitcoin – Bitcoin Magazine
This is an opinion piece by Brooks Lockett, a freelance writer and Bitcoiner who fell down the rabbit hole in 2018.
Have you ever inspired someone to get into Bitcoin? What worked?
Have you ever accidentally pushed someone away from Bitcoin? What didn’t work?
The frustrating reality that 99 out of 100 people on the street still don’t “get” Bitcoin leads many Bitcoiners to conclude that there is no cure for Cassandra’s curse other than time and patience. Cassandra’s curse means that—despite dangerously close to collapse the state of the fiat monetary system — the masses still haven’t discovered that there is a viable solution in Bitcoin.
Yes, it’s early. Embryonic, indeed. But that shouldn’t mean we can’t create more vibrant conversations with the “pragmatists, conservatives and skeptics” unfamiliar with the Bitcoin ecosystem.
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Close your eyes and think: How many conversations around the world – online and offline – do you think happened in the last 24 hours where Bitcoin was mentioned?
Hundreds of educational moments?
Thousands of educational moments?
Tens of thousands of educational moments?
Each of these moments represents an opportunity to properly use persuasion and behavioral psychology to explain Bitcoin.
Just because the person isn’t as receptive to a monologue about the Byzantine general problem doesn’t mean they should “have fun staying poor.”
The fact that Bitcoin naturally challenges widely held beliefs makes it particularly vulnerable to the Backfire Effect. It is up to the Bitcoin community to frame the technology in ways that are not perceived as unwanted evidence or threats to their ideology.
Minimizing Bitcoin’s “Backfire Effect”:
In the Bitcoin community, we love distributed networks, Lightning channels, multisig setups, decentralization, and the benefits of a solid monetary standard.
The collective jargon, shared goals and shared values unite industry insiders who have spent years in space. It’s fun to get together and say “hooray!”
But outside of society – which is currently the vast majority of people on the planet – these are concepts that might as well be a galaxy away.
It’s not unlike your jacked friend who really wants you to join his CrossFit gym. The fact that he looks fit and healthy is still not enough to get you to join.
Case Study: How I Got My Lawyer Friend Into Bitcoin
A good friend of mine is an intellectually curious guy. He is sharp, works with legal and always likes to discuss economics, finance, politics etc.
For years he asked generic questions in passing about Bitcoin because he knew I was active in space. And for years I would try to give my most thorough soup-to-nuts overview.
Each time I got the same subtle, discouraging reaction.
But one day I tried the reverse approach and sent the questions back. After some discovery, I noticed that all he wanted to talk about was Bitcoin’s potential role in wartime. Something we had never discussed before.
I explained how a Bitcoin sound money standard could make wars significantly less affordable for authoritarian governments to finance.
I also walked him through how refugees who are able to remember or hang on to their seed phrases can transport 100% of the net worth stored in the network with them as they flee their countries.
Once he realized that Bitcoin is a universal language – a network that can be accessed from anywhere in the world with 24 words – that inspired him to do his own research and gravitate towards space.
“Brooks, this is so obvious… why does this matter?”
I know. But had I gone ahead with mining, digital signatures or the importance of the software being open source… I would have had the inevitable moment and we would probably have one less Bitcoiner in the room.
What seems obvious in your head may be the light bulb moment for another person.
If an opportunity arises to discuss Bitcoin with a newbie, instead of jumping into an explanation of who Satoshi is, inflation graphs or hash rate growth – I strongly recommend starting with probing questions instead:
– “What are your opinions about the old financial system?”
– “Have you ever had a frustrating experience or delay with your bank?”
– How big an impact would you say the world wide web has had on the world?
– “If you were in a position of high power, how would you go about making wars harder to finance?”
– “Do you feel that your overall purchasing power has increased or decreased over the past decade?”
– “Would you consider yourself an early, medium or late adopter of new technology?”
Asking simple but relatable questions will uncover the information you need to have a more lively conversation that helps build the other person’s knowledge base instead of reinforcing your existing knowledge base.
It is IKEA Effect in action: for the same reasons that consumers place disproportionately high value on products they have assembled themselves, people place more value on conversations in which they have been an active participant.
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Let’s look at some examples of how to achieve the IKEA effect.
The counterproductive approach:
Other person: “Bitcoin is going to be shut down by the US government.”
You: “It’s actually technologically unattainable. It’s a distributed network of computer nodes, and if you don’t understand basic computer science, you’re not really allowed to have an opinion on this.”
Other person: “The government can shut down anything they want. They have the best hackers in the world working for them.”
You: “Regardless, you just don’t get it and you’re going to miss out on Bitcoin with that mindset.”
Net: No winner.
The more productive approach:
Other person: “Bitcoin is going to be shut down by the US government.”
You: “I thought so at first too. You’d actually be very interested in it. Have you ever looked into distributed networks or cryptography before?”“
Other person: “Not really. I’m not super techy.”
You: “Would you say that separation of money and state is a good thing or a bad thing?“
Other person: “I’d say that’s a good thing. Inflation does real damage and prices younger generations out of society. It’s funny how much money older generations paid for nice homes with land versus how the situation is now. It’s honestly super unsustainable in my opinion, but I’m no expert.”
You: “Do you see it continuing or getting better?”
Other person: “At this point, probably continuing.”
You: – What do you see as a viable alternative?
Other person: “I’m not sure. Maybe you can explain to me how Bitcoin works?
Web: Other people talk to Bitcoin.
Of course, it won’t always be easy. But this simple shift in your approach could be the difference between a newbie spending 8 months of their life shitcoining instead of just starting with Bitcoin in the first place.
Robert Cialdini discusses in his book “Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion”, which states that people have a deep psychological need to be perceived as consistent.
How can we leverage this principle when explaining Bitcoin to others?
Doing the work to understand the other person’s specific context will lead to much less frustration than getting aggressive and annoyed when they fail to see Bitcoin from your perspective.
It is the opposite of the high-pressure salesperson who jumps straight to the signature on the dotted line.
The best possible emotion you can invoke in someone when it comes to adopting new technology is curiosity.
Personal relevance is one of the biggest factors in those early conversations, says Joshua Guest, who provides Bitcoin education at The HiFi Bitcoin Letters. He explains, “There are few forces in the world that have a greater capacity to change individuals and societies for the better than Bitcoin does. So helping new and veteran participants learn how Bitcoin can be personally relevant to them can have profound results.”
You are already familiar with Bitcoin as a technology. Why not be just as good at explaining it to newbies?
The higher our collective conversion rate as a community, the faster the network spreads, and the faster fiat dies.
Conclusion:
1. In Bitcoin, persuasion is better than force
2. Persuasive psychology is extremely complex, so the time to start experimenting heavily is now
This is a guest post by Brooks Lockett. Opinions expressed are entirely their own and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of BTC Inc or Bitcoin Magazine.
