> We are social creatures. We sacrifice individual needs because we gain massive security and social value in return.
I'm not a libertarian or a proponent of cryptocurrency. But I do think we can be clearer about what being "social creatures" means.
We are "social creatures" in the sense that we seek the advantages of group membership (safety, co-operation, food stability, shelter, school), but we are not social creatures in the sense that we want oppressive control and uniformity. Our "agreement" with being social is accompanied by resentment. In some cases, the resentment is pathological. (Conformity can be pathological too.)
Homo sapiens developed/evolved language, the amazing human protocol to support co-operation. But when we ask people to say everything that they are thinking without social consequences, we discover the degree to which people can be angry, rude, willfully ignorant, and even crazy. (Consider "social media" to be both a business and an unprecedented live experiment revealing social resentment.)
The cryptocurrency movement/phenomenon is a construct with significant flaws and ardent adherents who see their own interest fulfilled in the narrative. In this, it is nothing particularly special. But by definition a crowd of people who all seek total individuality will not cohere.
I'm not a libertarian or a proponent of cryptocurrency. But I do think we can be clearer about what being "social creatures" means.
We are "social creatures" in the sense that we seek the advantages of group membership (safety, co-operation, food stability, shelter, school), but we are not social creatures in the sense that we want oppressive control and uniformity. Our "agreement" with being social is accompanied by resentment. In some cases, the resentment is pathological. (Conformity can be pathological too.)
Homo sapiens developed/evolved language, the amazing human protocol to support co-operation. But when we ask people to say everything that they are thinking without social consequences, we discover the degree to which people can be angry, rude, willfully ignorant, and even crazy. (Consider "social media" to be both a business and an unprecedented live experiment revealing social resentment.)
The cryptocurrency movement/phenomenon is a construct with significant flaws and ardent adherents who see their own interest fulfilled in the narrative. In this, it is nothing particularly special. But by definition a crowd of people who all seek total individuality will not cohere.