Post
Topic
Board Bitcoin Discussion
Re: The Amazing (And True!) Story of Bitcoin by Adrianne Jeffries - Video
by
molecular
on 10/03/2012, 12:24:40 UTC
i have to say i see it quite differently.

i think it was a very poor talk.  all she did was give a superficial historical review with a heavy slant towards the negative events over the last year including her own mishap with MyBitcoin.  she showed no understanding of the economics behind why Bitcoin was created or how it fits into the financial crisis of the last 4 years.  she even had the gall to say she understood Bitcoin better than most ppl in a previous video interview with that other supposed financial expert who's name escapes me.  David Birch.

its high time we get someone who is articulate and has a deep understanding of the corrupt financial world into which Bitcoin is trying to insert a viable solution.  

if i were to give a talk on Bitcoin i would spend 75% of the talk emphasizing the mess we're in with central banks printing money all over the world in an attempt to stop the debt deleveraging deflationary spiral.  i would throw up pictures of M2 and debt/GDP ratio and how they started their upward parabolic moves in the 1970's when we went off the gold standard.  i would then throw up a graph of the asymptotic Bitcoin issuance curve contrasting their shapes.  i would talk about how gold has always been real money backing fiat paper and how Bitcoin is digital gold.  i would put up a 100 yr graph of the declining value of the USD and overlay that on top of the Dow and debt levels.  i would throw up a non log graph of the last 100 yrs in the Dow and show how we have peaked and are in a frightening massive head and shoulders formation over the last 12 years with a projected line straight down the shoot over the next decade.  i would throw up a graph showing how Obama has doubled the national debt in just 3 yrs.  i would throw up a graph of declining housing prices and how this correlates with decreasing household wealth.  i would go over the 2007-08 crisis and how it began and why.  i would explain how Geithner, Bernanke and Hank Paulson broke the rule of law and bailed out crony banking institutions and AIG.  i would emphasize that not one banker who caused this whole mess has gone to prison.  i would explain that 0.01% of the US population owns a counterfeiting ring that only they can tap into and every USD they print devalues the other 99.99% of the populations's USD's.  i would throw up a graph showing why this very phenomenon has resulted in the tremendous wealth disparity of these ppl to the rest of us.  i would go over the European sovereign debt issue and explain that banks all over the world dumped their bad debts onto gov'ts and are pushing them into default as we speak.  

for the rest of the 25% talk i would only insert the basics of Bitcoin into key selected points staying away from the technical side and showing just why Bitcoin would solve a particular problem.

this is just off the top of my head.  sorry for the rant but listening to her made me puke.

good outline of a talk to motivate people on bitcoin.

I dont think I agree on the part where you stay away from the technicals. I really think it is necessary (if you want to see people trust the blockchain) to explain how the "public ledger" works and how you have a key that enables spending the outputs of transactions (Adrianna totally fails on this one and it was painful to see her agree on the host saying: "so it's just a string of character that can't be copied?"). I'd explain that there are some bitcoins that exist "only in my brain" (in the form of a electrum wallet seed). Put up the address and say: "you can send bitcoins to this address, which can then only be spent by using a key that exists only in my brain" (point to head with finger). Something like that. There's no simplifying this and it really isn't that complicated. What's so hard to understand about needing a key that enables spending money sent to an address linked to that key?

I like your spin on elaborating on the current (and historical) problems with FIAT currency and maybe the inevitable revival of market-based commodity money (I specifically include bitcoin here, of course), because frankly, this is what sold bitcoin to me. Remember the first time you grasped satoshis idea (blockchain, proof of work) and the implications this could have? I was clearly in some sort of a heightened state for days, even weeks, rambling on about this revolutionary idea that would change the world to my friends. An ideal talk about bitcoin would instill exactly that in people and I think your idea of emphasizing the problems bitcoin solves is good.

Let's see (hopefully) how Bill Barhydt does with his "TED2012 Full Spectrum" talk on bitcoin