Bitcoin Forum

We were talking about the twitter IPO, and one of the guys had invested in facebook when it launched, inside I laughed at him, but to maybe help them expand their horizons I brought up bitcoin, and told them about all of the money I have made, the ups and downs, its utility, how bitcoins are created etc etc... they started going online and looking up asics and shouting the names like they coulnd't take them seriously because of their names. I don't mine though, and I told them right now isn't the greatest time to invest in those. Then they started talking about buying a bunch of cheap computers off ebay, I'm pretty sure I explained the difficulty and the computing power needed. At least one of the guys was like, I'm gonna see this guy one day as a billionaire. The other guy not so much. I still can't tell if they were pulling my chain, maybe I'm too sensitive, but it sure felt like it... I guess I'll be the one laughing to the bank.

Its a hard thing to understand unless your personally involved.

Who made the money? You!

Feel good😄

Dont worry so much about that what others say. When you get older you give a shit on what they say. Its good to spread the word.

they also started teasing me when I showed them my price chart app on my phone, they were like " do you sit there and watch it all day and cheer when it goes up"

People are thought whole life to cherish money (in paper form). Thats why it is so hard to explain, I am not trying any more. I just count the money  ;)

Ask them if they sit and cry all day as their fiat wealth is inflated to all hell.

During this last "crash" I told my coworkers, "hey guys probably last chance, want some cheap coins?" and instead of the usual "no" this time I got "no I told you". So I guess, I must be boring with this bitcoin theme even when it's been at least 6 months since I last brought it up. Ok, no more feeling stupid when trying to help—fuck em. One day they'll come asking and I'll be glad to answer but until then, I'm not saying another single word.

ignorance is bliss...

that's great. it's when everyone and his grandma will invest in btc that i would go for the exit.

Not everyone has the foresight to understand the possibilities that new technology can bring. I've had many people laugh at me but a few good people will listen. These are the ones who aren't closed to new ideas. If you think about it, changing a person's concept of money can drastically affect their perspective on how the world functions In a real deep way.

In my experience, the laughing has decreased and the respect has increased with more and more serious inquiry. And I still get to keep the nickname of Mr. Bitcoin  8)

So, the guy who invested in Facebook after its IPO did so no earlier than day two when it was first available on the secondary market, thus was aware that it was going nowhere, but he's not interested in a money making machine name Monarch because...

I wouldn't stress about it. These people sound like they are taking their insecurities out on you.

In my experience everyone, it is better to not be discouraged by the reactions of others, after all  was it not Thomas Edison that said, " We don't know 1 millionth of 1 percent of anything." If we think about that statement how can anyone be sure of what they know? or have just learned? No, you master it first, become an example, make your cash and remember Bitcoin is not the only show in town... it's the BATTERING RAM that will trash the gates for other cryptocurrencies... don't forget about them.

The total system is composed of various different forms of money, Bitcoin is the gateway into fiat. With merged mining many different schemes can be used like Demurrage, Devcoins charity system, Feathercoin and others... consider all the cryptocurrencies and you'll know there is a lot more money out there than just Bitcoin's 2 billion dollars.

I to am ridiculed by it... but I got Bitcoins, we'll see who has the last laugh... sure make people feel uncomfortable when they think about it someday.

Don't worry about it. I told someone about Bitcoin and they replied "Sounds like some people have too much spare time on their hands."

*shrug*, I haven't brought it up in conversation again with that person.

You have to accept that some people just won't be interested.

"If you think I'm crazy, then let's have a little wager.

Let's wager one-tenth of a Bitcoin that, one year from now, I will be right about this.

If I'm wrong ... let's see here, one-tenth of a Bitcoin is roughly $20 right now - so, if I'm wrong, in a year, I'll pay you $20. Because obviously, if you're right and I'm wrong, then one-tenth of a Bitcoin will be worth less than that. So that'll be fair.

If you're wrong, however, one year from today you will pay me one-tenth of a Bitcoin.

Here, I know a notary public. Let's put this down on paper, just to be honest."

That's what happened to the first people who tried to share their interest for Bitcoin on Slashdot. They were ridiculed, and the comment section turned into an enormous heap of scorn and sarcasm. I was there and remember asking to myself why people like slashdoters who have once lived the situation of being considered like lunatics can become so arrogant and do exactly the same to other people. That day, I ignored the comments and started to mine Bitcoin, but 99% of people on the thread just flocked with the bullies and missed the opportunity of becoming a second generation early adopter.
But now look at slashdot comments when a Bitcoin discussion is started: where is the scorn? Where is the sarcasm? It was all replaced by bitterness and cynism: people regret hat they didn't listen. Now they just want to avoid the subject. They were among the first people informed about Bitcoin and they just fucked up, and now they can only blame themselves.
So don't worry, you did your job by giving them the opportunity to be open minded and jump on the bandwagon. If they don't, they will likely regret it bitterly in a few years and you can just give them a pat in the back and pay them a round of drinks with all the money you have made.

Ay, same things happen to me.

You got to be well respected before people listen to you.

I don't mind if people laugh. Bitcoin is a funny-sounding idea, after all. When I first heard about it, if I'd been in a different mindset at the time I might've laughed, too, but I knew I didn't understand it enough to decide it was ridiculous for sure, even though it sure sounded that way. Fortunately the person who mentioned it (I believe it was MoonShadow or Peter Surda, on another forum) was obviously intelligent so I pretty much knew it couldn't be as ridiculous as first impressions made it seem. If it was a misguided project, it had to be for a more subtle reason that these otherwise intelligent folks failed to catch - I noted to myself.

Still, I'm good at giving things the benefit of the doubt; most people just aren't that careful.

One thing I'm always sure to tell people first is, "When I first heard of Bitcoin it sounded totally ridiculous. I was ready to write it off completely but I had a few lingering questions. I looked into those and realized there could be something to it. Eventually something clicked and I saw that it deserved at least some research. A few days of intense research made me realize it was actually probably legit, for many counterintuitive reasons that require some understanding of both ecnomics and cryptography to fully appreciate. Eventually with further research all my questions were answered and I realized it was definitely legit and would probably change the world."

So let us not forget the example of slashdot, and remember the blockchain; The undisputed record of Bitcoin's history, everyone has to verify for themselves and work out the proof of work to make sure it is valid. That is the best way, use your judgement, use your intuition and work out the logic to build the next step. That is what I am doing, i see the system as sound, could it be better yeah for sure, but that is because I understand it and know the need for it in today's world.  

don't forget your own logic, don't stop adding to your own personal Blockchain, the record of your history from which you build upon. no sense in taking someone elses advice without doing a little thorough thinking.

Also I think focusing on the public ledger aspect, rather than the "bitcoins," is less likely to draw laughter. The Money is Memory thesis is very powerful. It sidesteps many typical objections.

When I first encountered the concept of digital currency, it was Chaum's idea of digital cash being discussed on the cypherpunks list in around '92 or so.  I thought the idea was interesting, but somewhat impractical, and thought the necessary length of the permanent transaction record would be too unwieldy and that, at least as conceived, it was likely to collapse under its own weight.

I didn't encounter Bitcoin until a couple years in, largely looking for a way to play poker online from the United States.  I had glancingly heard of Bitcoin, but hadn't really looked into it, and on reading the description of it, realized it sounded an awful lot like Chaum's ideas from long ago.  I appear to have been correct that the blockchain is, in fact, rather unwieldy, but incorrect in that the vastly increased bandwidth and storage space available makes it reasonably practical to keep around.

Eventually, that issue will have to be addressed in a more permanent fashion, but it appears entirely possible to handle when needed.

Anyone who would just laugh at the whole idea really just doesn't even understand it.  Who cares about the braying of a jackass?

surprising, i thought college kids would be the most open to it.
there are plenty of mainstream naysayers like those. you should stand up for what you believe, not just bitcoin, but decentralization in general. decentralization is going to be big in the future, bitcoin is just one of the early applications

"Success. It's got enemies. You can be successful and have enemies or you can be unsuccessful and have friends."

Don't be sad OP.  They jelly...  

When people are insecure, about themselves or something they don't understand, they tend to poke fun to make themselves feel better and "bond with the ignorant group".  Happens on the playground.  Happens with Bitcoin.

you will find the same storys with gold and silver...

most people dont even believe, that the official statistics are wrong...  ::)

so be happy: you know more because you dont spent your full freetime with football and rubbish TV shows.

you can act earlier and hopefully better because you know more! when you dont know anything, you get robbed (like in cyprus)

so thankfully there is the internet, were everyboday has at least the possibility to learn more about stuff that matters!

My friends are a little older crowd (30-40 range) then the college kids but I get the same response typically.  Most just say that they don't have any money to invest.  Those that do think it is too "risky."  I have one friend that is very intrigued and is saying she will look into it.  I tried to explain it to her and she looked at me cross eyed.  Finally I said, "Well just if you spend about $1000 and buy about 5 coins they might be worth $100,000 someday."  She said it sounded like a good idea then. ;)  Of course I tempered that with the fact that it was still a high risk investment but that there was potential for great rewards if it takes off like many of us think it will.

I too have talked to people at college about bitcoin. Most of them just don't really seem interested; or don't really care. This brings up another interesting question - what is the average age of people who use bitcoin? I'd say it's probably really young. No older than 30.

Ask yourself if you sit and cry all day as your bitcoin deflates to all hell.

Well, if you knew how many bitcoiners are actually spending their days watching the charts...

Their loss  :D

Mahatma Gandhi

Looks like your friends are on step two in their relationship with Bitcoin.  They are kinda behind the times laugh at you saw so 2012.

You know what you should do? Send an email to wikipedia telling them how much they're missing out by not accepting BTC on their donation drive.









;D

@muasktak10, All the best.. :)

Looks like, MasterCard is actively fighting Bitcoins. That's like, step 3.

"Then, they fight you."

http://www.teribuhl.com/2013/10/22/mastercard-hates-bitcoins/

Actually, the correct version of that quote is not quite as sunny:

"First they ignore you. Then they ridicule you. And then they attack you and want to burn you. And then they build monuments to you."

I've brought it up on a nearly daily basis but the funniest was a particularly obvoxious coworker of mine who I informed of bitcoin last year when it was around $20 per coin .... was funny when he found out it broke to nearly $260 in the last rise ... he thought he got a last laugh when it dropped back to $90 and I had to not-so-subtly remind him that $90 is greater than $20 throughout the known universe.... and I got to laugh again when it got above $200 this time....

What I've found when people act like this is that they have made assumptions about the world around them they believe to be true (i.e. A sovereign bank note has value and digital data has none... when in fact sovereign bank notes only have value because we are told they have a value and government laws are created to make it legal for us to be told that, all the while digital data has real world value as it is a record of information, information and knowledge is power... businesses will wise to this one day, when they realize that they can start data mining the block chain to find a plethora of spending habits, marketing strategies etc. things that are very difficult with worthless paper...)

Ideologically you are right.  There is a bigger picture than just a "get rich quick scheme."  However, most people cannot see the big picture when it comes to the way "money" is created.  Granted, to tell my friends that Bitcoin could be worth $100,000 could be giving them false hopes, the fact is there is a chance there and it at least gives them the impetus to look into Bitcoin a little more than they would otherwise.  I always tell my friends that they could lose everything too and there is a risk involved for sure, but I think if they invest $200 and it only goes to $1000 someday they will not be disappointed regardless.  The odds of being left "holding the bag" with Bitcoin is a small one at this point I believe.  I think the risks involved are lower than they have ever been.  I am very bullish though.  ;D

You will be the on laughing in a year or two :)

I was trying to explain this to a friend recently. Here is the analogy I came up with.

I am deeply invested in bitcoins (like %80 of my wealth). I am also a veganarchist.

Now I am used to being ridiculed because I am a vegan. Bitcoin ridicule is actually nothing compared to that.

In 1970's there were no vegans. In the U.S. the number of vegetarians were less than 1%.  Today the number of vegetarians is about 5% and vegans about 2%. People still ridicule vegans.

Bitcoin provides an important incentive to join. Seeing the initial attitude towards veganism. IF %2 of the people become vegans, than %2 of the people would become anything. Even bitcoiners. They just need to hear the arguments.

Now you don't really need everyone to be vegan to be able to live comfortably as a vegan. If there were no vegans, it would be hard. but %2 makes it a viable population. Now there are grocery stores aimed at vegans, special products aimed at vegans. Even pringles chips has a sign somewhere saying "vegan" with a tick next to it (though I wonder how they define it).

Now make a rapid calculation. If the 2% of the world invested 10k of their wealth- bitcoin price would be 0.02*7e9*1e4/21e6 > 60,000 dollars?! This is assuming no massive hoarding (a lot of caveats in such a calculation which will swing it wildly in both directions, but you get the basic idea).

Even when this happens, some people will still make fun of you because you are still marginal with beliefs shared by a mere 2% of the population.

But there will also be some people, that you tell them about bitcoins, and they lighten up. Maybe only a 2%. Maybe rather 7%. But you still need to tell them about it, present it in a way that it makes sense. Don't waste your time on people who don't get it.

Why would they look up Asics, that's strange.  It's probably a little past their understanding, and maybe they're jealous...  Most people can be quick to dismiss such ideas from people unless you already have good track record of profiting or some other success they've seen, then they'll usually be more keen to listen I find.

yeah, i talked to my co-workers, they laughed at me too
i try to explained to them, but they said its a scam  :-[

I'm gay, a liberal, drive a prius, and don't drink alcohol.

For people who made up their minds that bitcoin is a scam, a$1000 or$10,000 price tag won't change their minds. they will still hoping one day they'd be proven correct. Believe it or not.

I remember that on Slashdot too. I also remember in 1993 and 1994 people saying how the internet was a fad and I was wasting time registering a bunch of domain names.  One or two years later they were not laughing when Disney bought one etc.

Ditto here with bitcoin.  It is fine to explain to people, but then they make their choices and decisions and have to live with it.  I wouldn't let them bring you down, just do your thing.

When I talk about Bitcoins to others I using torrent analogy. It is peer to peer as well but instead of sharing files you share transactions. The point is with peer to peer, it can not be closed down, thus very reliable monetary service in the long run

Almost same story here. I first told them at 20 EUR. Of course some time after that they laughed about the April crash and I had to tell them that 20 EUR was still way less than the bottom of the crash. Only difference is that I didn't bring it up again when 160 EUR last week, but on 125 suggesting them to buy.

That's unfortunate knowing that you received those kind of responses on a college campus.
Here I thought college students developed an open mind being taught critical thinking skills that they've
lacked all k-12. In my campus I've received a bit of awe from the listeners. Planting seeds of curiosity never hurts.
You should try introducing Bitcoin to a different group of students.

Well everyone is different. I won't laugh if/when we reach the moon. Just as regular people have "better" things to do with their fiat (?), I have better things to do with my coins rather than laughing at people.

Another option is, you know, telling everyone you lost them all in the next big scam.

Never talk about mining, nor about investing in BTC. I've introduced BTC to many people, and I describe it as an electronic, immaterial  currency to make quick and cheap exchanges internationally. All the people I talked were very interested. Mining is for geeks and I hate computers, so it's not for me, but I enjoy the ability to send money abroad without any middleman taking his cut.

I use Rainman as the example when trying to explain ASICs.  Maybe it's not politically correct since you're dealing with autism but I find it's what people can relate to.  In the move, Raymond was exceptionally good at counting numbers but he couldn't function very well in every day society.  This is very similar to ASICs, as it's extremely good at doing one particular task but not very good at doing a large variety of tasks (like a personal computer would).  Maybe that's a way you can explain it to your friends, they can't buy a computer off Ebay the same way a normal person wouldn't be able to memorize an entire phone book like Rainman.

I have decided after many years of living that most men don't actually want to be successful at either money or ladies. They think they want success, but deep down inside, they prefer being failures. They ignore all my advice, despite seeing how well I do and even offers to help them. Maybe a psychologist could explain it to me.

but for now: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lkJ_0WqBQns

Is it not likely by the time everyone and his grandma is buying they're not 'investing', rather either buying to protect wealth from a hyperinflating fiat or buying because it makes more sense and is easier to use to buy stuff than fiat.  And if fiat is hyperinflating what are you exiting to? Not USD is my hunch!

You could ... talk about your dick, um ... I got nothin'.

:D

Right!?  Human nature I guess.  I suppose people have this deep rooted desire to be "right" or think that they know it all.

I am well aware that it might be a bit crazy to take the risk we have to invest a sizable amount of the small cash savings we have acquired into Bitcoin but after weighing the pros and cons it seemed crazy not to take that risk too.  I think it takes a person that can "think outside the box" to really look into Bitcoin though.

Fuck what they think. They'll look back on this as the first time they heard about Bitcoin. And it will definitely be a very bad memory in regard to their ignorance!

My advice? Take up drinking ;)

I remember the /. articles.  I remember laughing when I didn't understand.  I'm just glad I finally came to my senses and took the time to understand the implications.

People use humor to try to make light of what they do not understand.  Don't be a preacher but a representative.

I often follow a similar tack when talking to people about bitcoin, something along these lines:

"When I first heard about bitcoin I thought it sounded even worse than fiat because neither was it backed by a commodity, nor was it supported by legal tender laws. I predicted that bitcoin would never see any active trading, and if it ever even hypothetically managed to do so, its value would quickly plummet to zero. Then, I learned that bitcoin exchanges existed and that bitcoin was in fact actively traded, with a rising valuation over an extended period of time. IOW, the actual data blew my prediction out of the water. That's when I knew I had something to learn, and that is always an exciting moment for me."

Most people don't have a level of intelligence to understand bitcoin.  It is counter-intuitive to non-smart people.

Or go back to the 70s and 80s when everyone who used a computer was a "geek".

Now everyone uses them and eventually everyone will use bitcoin.

And those who bought Microsoft stock in the 80s did pretty well too.

Bunches of torrent indexers have bitcoin as their prime way for donation- bitsnoop, kickass, thepiratebay you name it, they have it. Colleges can't compete as they are prisoners of the poverties of the tangible carnal body.

That's very unethical advice for a friend since you can't guarantee what you told her.

"Might be" and "high risk" are the words I used.  I also told her she could lose it all.  What is unethical then?

I think it would be more "unethical" not to tell her what the potential was.  She would come over to my new house and I would say, "Oh.  I forgot to tell you but there was this investment opportunity a few years back?"  That would probably be worse. ;)

Also, this same friend has played the stock market and made and lost several thousand. She said "what is a grand?"  She did not seem to think it was a big deal to risk that much.  She has risked way more.  She also has far more money in the bank then I do so she would not even miss that small of an investment.  

I guess the "unethical" part is telling her about the potential for gains?  I think many people think $20,000 per BTC is not that far fetched.  If she purchased 5 they could very well be worth that at some point if she held them.  I really do believe that so I am not trying to misguide her.  

hey I follow the philosophy by Arthur Shcopenhaur

All truth passes through three stages. First, it is ridiculed. Second, it is violently opposed. Third, it is accepted as being self-evident.

Any major innovation passes thru these stages. The fact that it is being ridiculed mesns we are still early adopters so we should be buying all the alts and bitcoin with both hands.. The price will rise the most within the first 10 years after that it may range or rise slower.  So we have until 2019 to reach the stage where it becomes voilently opposed and being self evident which may come fast...

At work I get opposed but ppl know Im not dumb so they dont day anything to me maybe they think lower of me but hey im ok with that. One guy an ex msft emplyee was interested in april when i told him it hit $266 and he said let me know when it hits $100 so i can buy.. so I did te next day lol and he said its too hard to buy.. which is true. It took me a month to get setup with bitcoins by buying via fiat...

as soon as atm comes out or it gets easier to buy wr may see another explosion in popularity.. until then we are early adopters personaly im buying alt coins because bitcoin will be parked in alts going forward as fiat seems to be phase out slowly and trust in the protocol grows.

I used to write software for a bank.  Bunch of silvertops who cant even get an iPhone app to market, but get hard over 5%pa.  I pitched bitcoin when it was $5.

I got all the same reply's "its not backed by anything", "its a Ponzi scheme"

When it hit $200 I made sure they knew about how I made 40x my money... and asked them how their 5% "high interest" savings accounts are going. 

When introducing Bitcoin to newcomers, you shouldn't go into mining whatsoever. Mining is not what Bitcoin is all about. It only gives new people the wrong impression that Bitcoin is some scheme to "make money out of thin air". Especially if they get the notion that by letting their PC doing calculations over night, they magically get paid for it or something.

I always explain it in terms of currency (like euros and dollars) but independent of a state, bank, government, company, or other authority. Only until people get a basic notion and start wondering where new bitcoins come from, I bring up mining as a technical detail. Of course, mining is important within the concept of Bitcoin, but not for every day use. People need not to know or do anything with mining to buy, have, use, store, spend, or sell bitcoins whatsoever.

I've gotten a mixed range of reactions from people:

"It's flawed economically.. you need inflation to encourage spending"

"It's nerd money that isn't very useful right now"

"I heard you can make free money?  Can you show me how to do it?"

"Is that illegal?  I heard you can buy drugs with it"

"It's already taken off.. I getting into litecoin because it's still small"

"Be careful.. how do you know it's not a scam?"

"I'm not convinced because there's not enough places to spend them"

Out of all the people I've talked to, no one has really understood the significance of what bitcoin is.  They see it as this novel little project.  They don't understand how relevant sound money is in our current global macroeconomic environment.  Nor do they see that bitcoin technology is a massive breakthrough and is kind of like opening pandoras box.  It's just not going to go away and it's here to change the world in a big way.

To be honest I think it's really going to be the people in the developing countries (eg. Argentina, India, Brazil, etc...), the ones facing collapsing currencies, capitol controls, bank holidays, and bail-ins/bail-outs.  They will be the people who see the real problems in front of their own eyes, and their wealth dissapearing day by day.  They will understand that they need to take action to protect their wealth.  The ignorant first world people will happily continue working for the status-quo fiat system, distracted by their tv and junk food, until one day they wake up and realise how poor they are.

We can try to convince people through logical arguments, but I think in the end bitcoin will attract newcomers out of necessity, and they will probably be from the countries who are suffering the most.

Perhaps what people need is to first learn the monetary system they currently use. Then it becomes easy to see why Bitcoin is so awesome. Or perhaps "people" are just hopeless...

That's actually an argument made by people who understand money, to some degree, but don't understand Bitcoin.  It actually has a good deal of truth with relation to government-backed currencies, but the fact that Bitcoin does not have this characteristic is a feature, not a bug, and was designed into it entirely intentionally.

It's also an irrelevant criticism of cryptocurrencies in general, because if a critical mass of people did consider it a problem, it's just as possible to design a cryptocurrency that did have inflation.  So far, nobody has wanted one enough to make one catch on (I'm not counting Freicoin).

If that's true, Bitcoin is destined to fail.  Luckily I don't believe that.

It's something I would put in my "what do you love most" list. Natural selection is awesome :)

Most people don't understand bitcoin and therefore don't trust it. Thus they don't want to use it for now.

That being said, people don't understand how fiat currencies work. They still use them.

When fiat currencies start stealing 10%-20% per year from everyone's savings, people will suddenly learn about bitcoin and understand it enough to trust it :) The more people leave fiat currencies, the more needs to be stolen from the rest bag holders holding fiat.

"some people laughed at me"

I didn't know that psychotherapy belonged in the Bitcoin Discussion forum?

There are many wrong predictions.

1. Cars - who wants to drive a car with combustible fuel that could explode anytime
2. Photocopier - we already have carbon papers

And, many more.

That is weird, I never noticed that... Why is it butterfly labs? Why isn't there a company like "Block Crusher" or something making ASICs?

Thats normal, mine is worse. My friend say its scam say I am dumb and calling me names...

I told a very smart programmer (because he walked in on a conversation between 2 of us bitcoiners) and he just dismissed it as a Ponzi scheme.  I told him to look into it but I don't know whether he will.

Maybe when I retire in a year and a half at 45 I'll tell him why...

The price of Bitcoin will not reach $1000, or $100,000 in a year and a half.

Maybe he already bought enough BTC when it was in the single digits?

Haha, but people think they know how fiat currencies work. You won't believe how many people I had to correct and tell that the Euro is not backed by gold. Then they usually say: but the dutch Guilder was right? I can tell them no, the dutch Guilder didn't even float freely as it was pegged to the German D Mark which wasn't backed by gold either. Before Nixon dropped the gold standard and the Guilder was pegged to the USD it was sort of indirectly backed by gold, but that's a long time ago.

Some people don't even know they can print more. They assume they print to replace old money, not create more. Usually the next thing they say is: Hey! that's not really fair is it? :P

You're probably correct... I too have had to correct too many people about fiat :(

Still, fiat currencies steal people's wealth. It will be stealing more and more as the system gets worse! Making it easier and easier for us to talk about bitcoin :)

But people don't understand a Euro today is worth more than a Euro tomorrow. A few months ago a Dutch paper reported the increase in price of water in the Netherlands and showed the increase in price since 1900 or so. Then they continued to rant (yes papers are bad these days) how unfair the increase was. I calculated the APR and it was less than 1% per year so in effect water became much cheaper. But because the price in fiat increased people assume it's more expensive. The people in politics also seem to lack any form of knowledge in the matter because in response they began to state that the paper was right.

Using a asset/currency/made-up something which is becoming worth less over time is a really need trick to scam people because people have the tendency to compare the prices of things on different points in time on an absolute basis. Most people won't even comprehend this if you explain it to them ...

I find that this is just like the internet in the 1990s...you just need a few major first party businesses to get interested and integrated and it could eventually be a domino effect.  Your friends are really short sighted...shouldve told them that starting in 2010 with a plain pc and building your way up would've made enough coin for you to retire....3 years time....

Wait a minute you are laughing where?   ;) 

He's laughing his way to the bank to go and laugh some more over there :)

Life tends to be quite cheerful when you're loaded.

Actually, that's technically true, if you're talking about literal money printing. When a central bank increases the money supply, they do it electronically rather than by actually printing more money, otherwise there'd be a global ink shortage. :D

The success of fiat currencies is, in fact, at least partly that they allow the government to tax you in a way most people are too dumb even to understand.  They're ALREADY stealing from your savings.  Like shearing a sheep, most governments (outside of Zimbabwe or Nazi Germany) are smart enough not to do it to the point they turn their own currencies into toilet paper overnight.  It gets pretty obvious when you have to take a shopping cart full of trillion dollar notes to try to buy a loaf of bread.  Do it nice and slow, though, and people put up with it.

Wow fuck them, the bitcoin ticker is no different than watching facebook rise and fall. Sounds like resentment to me, that you're in the know about something that goes right over their heads.

"No, I just buy another car."

The internet.

I talked to some kids at home-school about the Federal Reserve and they laughed at the system....

Every success usually starts out with someone laughing.

Maybe mining was just too much for them to comprehend. Tell them about this:
https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=321086.0

On the topic of passing through a "laughed at" phase as a possible sign of greatness, I recommend watching this excellent YCombinator presentation by Chris Dixon (coincidentally, one of the first Bitcoin adopters in the VC community).  The topic is how most disruptive innovations, by definition, must "feel wrong" and be initially perceived as pointless by the majority of the universe:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=akOazwgDiSI

At first it is rediculed then voilently protested then self evident.

Yeah, cheerful for the guys in the bank you are giving all your money to.  Good luck with that. 

If you're giving your money to the guys in the bank you're doing the pointing and laughing thing wrong.

http://www.techinasia.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/11/simpsons-haha.jpg

about a dozen guys in just my fraternity alone own bitcoins and see it as a (for the most part) long-term investment

Let those people think that you are stupid... You made money with btc, they didn't. Just laugh at them :)

Only time will see whos been right.

In lifetime everyone gets few chances, but most chances are ignored because humans tend to be conservative