Why Boomers Don’t Trust Bitcoin (And How I Convince Them To Open Their Minds)

This is an opinion editorial from Dan Weintraub, a writer and high school teacher who first became interested in bitcoin while teaching economics.

Trust is a funny thing. Generationally speaking, it could be argued that when it comes to our values, our norms, it is the younger generation’s job to essentially kite the older ones (perhaps in more crude terms) , and certainly figuratively). Our advice, etc. Music provides an appropriate cultural setting for viewing this tension.

same old song

In every generation, emerging and evolving musical forms are regarded by the older, traditional set as bad music, noise, even no music at all. In the late 1950s, Walter Cronkite Jazz is called “musical noise”. And his words were not given as praise. Rockabilly of the 1950s was certainly disliked by many in the traditional country community. The music of Summer of Love was disapproved of by many parents, who ostensibly embraced jazz and bebop. Punk rockers were undoubtedly met with blank stares and outright contempt by their hippie parents, and remain the object of musical scorn throughout the rap world. The point is clear: Tradition hates innovation, mostly because tradition doesn’t understand innovation and feels threatened by this new iteration. And yet, the truth remains; It’s all just music.

Here things get a bit complicated.

It’s one thing to not understand, dislike, even personally reject something new. It is another thing to completely discredit the new, to actively fight against the new, to try to destroy the new. And within that effort to destroy and bury the new form of expression, those who are trying to kill the new thing, in their weary and sad desperation, invent false narratives and stories to rationalize adherence to traditional methods. Will build Unfortunately, these narratives can be so powerful, that they lead to the growth of institutions and movements guided by a complete lie, led by selfish and power-hungry zealots armed with all those cultural weapons. equip those who are at the disposal of tradition; Shameless and unscrupulous, these forces can often go to any extent to kill what they have decided in their self-involved ignorance is evil.

As much as I hope that somewhere in the distant future, such destructive and reductive forces can be nullified by truth-informed mechanisms like the bitcoin protocol, I am not holding my breath. But at present, the power of verification – The thing that makes bitcoin such a revolutionary moment – can be leveraged by the bitcoin community as a way to bridge the generational gap, to push back against the narratives that baby boomers and others embrace in their rejection of bitcoin , and to move the protocol adoption curve forward.

My Bitcoin Pitch to Fellow Boomers

Here’s my point:

My generation (I’m 61) has a lot of trouble with bitcoin. Some of these concerns are valid (older people hate ostracism), while others are informed entirely by false narratives and prejudices. And just like with the music examples above, many of these false narratives are incredibly difficult to disarm; Embedded within these rejections of something new exists a desperation to integrate something understandable, something empowering, into their self-righteous hatred and self-centered defensiveness.

Now granted, I’m a Boomer, so I have a bit more natural legitimacy when I talk about bitcoin with my peers. I’m not the AirPods-wearing, yoga-mat-carrying, totally self-absorbed and personal-development-obsessed millennial that so many of my generation are (smiles). But even this affinity doesn’t turn me away from bitcoin. The rejection narratives heat up and they come quickly: environmental degradation, dark web currency, gambling casinos that make TikTokers rich, etc.

My strategy for pushing back against these arguments goes back to the music:

“Look,” I say. “You may be right. Bitcoin can be energy intensive and not helpful to the environment. Bitcoin can be used by scammers and fraudsters as part of their schemes to get rich. Maybe. Bitcoin could be the currency, or one of the currencies, of a generation of social-media chiefs, people you hold in such contempt. Maybe all of that is true. I would argue the following points: one, that you are accepting arguments that you have heard but not examined yourself; two, that you are basing your hatred and rejection of bitcoin not on the merits of bitcoin, but the way bitcoin appears to the world (like our parents rejecting our music because it came with long hair and a blue jean jacket); and three, that you’re rejecting bitcoin because you Don’t understand this, that all older generations make a lot of shit about what they don’t get.

And then I say this:

“There is one thing about bitcoin that sets it apart from anything else in the world, and that is the mobility of verification. If you can, ignore everything else for just a second. I set out to determine I’m fully prepared for that, even after you do your own research and challenge your own prejudices towards those lucky millennials (another wry smile) you can still disapprove of bitcoin, but this Hear me out on one thing, this is a really cool but rather revolutionary element of bitcoin: unlike every other human interaction in the world, bitcoin doesn’t ask us to put our blind trust in someone else. No one owns or controls it. doesn’t, so we’re not being asked to trust the words and actions of bankers or government officials or scammers or anyone; no one can hack it (take a moment to learn why), therefore, investing As even in its volatility, it is the most secure network ever created; and no one can destroy it, as it is software that runs on millions of computers, all of which are verifying every transaction that occurs.

and then this:

“Look, I’m not saying you should invest in bitcoin. And god knows that in a world full of greedy people and liars, bitcoin is as apt to be used by these people as the dollar or gold or real estate or whatever makes them rich. And the truth is millennials roll their eyes at me too. But you know what, this is my generational BS this is my own bullshit. The way my parents Nodding my head at my grateful deadness and my punk rockiness, I nod my head at millennials. But this stoicism and stupidity should not inform my thoughts about an emerging monetary technology and protocol. If it does, then I’m guilty of the same things we blamed our parents for 40 years ago. I don’t want to be part of yet another anti-intellectual generation that dismisses things it doesn’t understand is, or embraces, false narratives about things because they are the narratives we are most attuned to.

And then my closing:

“All I ask is that you take a moment and consider what a world in which verification of truth, rather than relying on someone else’s word, might look like. For example, bitcoin and the bitcoin network are stolen Elections conducted could be completely eliminated, as this realm of verification has the ability to validate and verify every transaction (every vote) beyond any doubt. Furthermore, with the bitcoin network and protocol, You can say goodbye to things like identity theft and credit card scams and no more getting double charged for stuff you buy; because with bitcoin har, har, Everyone Transactions are verified by thousands of computers on a completely secure network running unhackable software. And the thing is, there are so many examples of how verification can improve the world we live in, because when we can verify stuff we trust the whole process. So all I’m saying is, do a little research on this thing before you dismiss it; You may find, in spite of yourself, that as you Get What’s more, your appreciation for it changes.

We live in a world in which trust is a never ending construct. As I noted in my first two pieces in this series, as trust continues to erode, we, as a species, are in increasing trouble and peril. I am totally perplexed why my generation doesn’t trust bitcoin. But I’ve also learned that our distrust is informed by false narratives, petty prejudices, and a steadfast adherence to things we understand and know. What makes it so new and so elegant about bitcoin is that the protocol, for example, cuts through all the falsehoods. I think that’s the most powerful thing about bitcoin, and I think it’s a path towards getting more and more people into the fold.

Virtually everyone on this planet, including Boomers, is concerned about the direction we are headed as a species. And at the heart of this fear is the fact that we can no longer trust anything. Bitcoin changes this through its unbreakable verification mechanism. It starts with money, wealth, possessions. Who knows where it ends.

This is a guest post by Dan Weintraub. The opinions expressed are solely his own and do not necessarily reflect those of BTC Inc. or Bitcoin Magazine.