Bitcoin Forum

In order to advance science, scientists must think critically about everything that is being claimed, and scientists must evaluate all the evidence to determine which claims are supported and which claims are not supported. Many people have ideas including some very good ideas, but most ideas do not work, so one will need to test those ideas to determine which ideas are supported by evidence and which ones fail for one reason or another. The cryptocurrency community could benefit a lot from a scientific mindset.

No. A scientific mindset will not necessarily make you rich nor will a scientific mindset necessarily prevent you from losing money (Did you believe that a scientific mindset was magic? Oh wait. You don't care much about science, so you won't do that). But a scientific mindset will make you less susceptible to scams. Let us go over the steps of the scientific method and apply these steps to cryptocurrency technologies.

1. The first step in the scientific method is to make an observation. In the cryptocurrency sector, you may observe that many people are making a lot of money through cryptocurrency and that a lot of people are claiming that blockchain technologies will revolutionize stuff. Oh wait. That was about 2019 or whatever year. Now we are all talking about AI and about how AI will revolutionize stuff (or just @#$% everything up). You may also observe that Bitcoin uses a lot of energy.

To make a good observation, you should probably do some background reading (including reading the Bitcoin whitepaper and other papers).

2. After making an observation, one should ask a question. You may ask yourself why Bitcoin needs to use all of that energy and whether there is anything that should be done about this.

3. After you ask a question, you should for a hypothesis that you believe is testable. For example, you may hypothesize that there is no way for Bitcoin mining to be used to solve a scientific problem while establishing decentralized consensus.

4. After you form a hypothesis, you need to figure out how to test your hypothesis to see whether it is legitimate or not. If you find that you are unable to test your hypothesis, then you cannot claim that your hypothesis is correct. If you are too lazy, busy, or dumb to test your hypothesis, then maybe you should either form an easier hypothesis or accept that you are more likely to fall into a scam. If you hypothesize that there is no way for Bitcoin mining to be used to solve a scientific problem while establishing decentralized consensus, then to test this hypothesis, you will need to form a mathematical proof that this is impossible. Or at the very least, you will need to get a whole bunch of people to spend millions of dollars to find such a scientific problem (or maybe such a scientific problem already exists but the cryptocurrency community is too demented to realize this). If those resources come up empty, then those resources were probably just squandered. But if you have evidence that those resources were not squandered, then you can say that smart people have tried to solve a scientific problem while establishing decentralized consensus, but they could not do so. This does not mean that cryptocurrency mining cannot be used to establish decentralized consensus while solving a scientific problem, but it should at least tell you that you may want to give up trying to use cryptocurrency mining to solve an important scientific problem. In science, there are unsolved problems, and you may just need to accept this and quit trying if the cost is too much. But the cryptocurrency sector due to their low level of intelligence has not really tried to use cryptocurrency mining to solve an important scientific problem.

The entire cryptocurrency community has an anti-scientific mindset. For example, the entire Bitcoin community automatically rejects the idea that cryptocurrencies should have mining algorithms that are designed to advance science without any reason whatsoever. But they are unaware that since Bitcoin has an anti-scientific mining algorithm, Bitcoin (and other cryptocurrencies) have attracted an anti-scientific community that is highly susceptible to scams and bubbles. The entire cryptocurrency community would be much less hateworthy if it was not so attracted to scammery and was smart enough to like science.

-Joseph Van Name Ph.D.

You don't need to think more deeper about that since scams are obvious if you see that they are offering such to good to be true returns to their investor then that is really shady and potentially that could be turn as scam. Also if we see them act weird like promising that what they are doing is really profitable then if you invest to them then you can also generate money then try to see it if this is sustainable since if this is obvious money gathering scheme and what they do is just pure bullshit then you can avoid to get away with those scammers. We just need to have critical thinking here to avoid them and know what are those realistic way to earn money. But some fail to have or do that since what always came up on their mind is there's easy way for them to earn money that's why they need to be aware of any ponzi schemes system so that they can familiarize and avoid them.

arwin100-A lot of scams are obvious to reasonably intelligent people. But some things are not obviously scams, and some things require a scientific mindset to see if they are worth investing in. Scammers try their best to make it non-obvious that what they have to offer is a scam (ahem 90% of all college degrees). If scammery were so obvious, then FTX would not have existed at all and all of you chlurmcklets would not have worshipped at the feet of Sam Bankman Fried. But you did. And if something is not even worth your time to research, then it is not worth investing in. I do not know why anyone would want to invest in any cryptocurrency whatsoever without understanding even the basics of Bitcoin to the point where they realize that Bitcoin's mining algorithm was not designed to advance science but it is a quite difficult task to come up with a scientific mining algorithm that establishes decentralized consensus.

If people keep on denying the need to have a scientific mindset, they will continue to fall into scams and invest in garbage.

-Joseph Van Name Ph.D.

There is no contradictory link between Bitcoin and artificial intelligence, the two can be a revolutionary technology. It is not coal versus oil versus alternative energies, or artificial intelligence, robots and manual labor.

Bitcoin's intense energy consumption is one of the topics that has been discussed a lot, and the search option will show you hundreds of topics.


There are no direct links between Bitcoin and fraud. It is true that there is some connection between cryptocurrencies and fraud, but with a little observation, you will find a big difference between Bitcoin and cryptocurrencies.

Yamane_Keto-"Bitcoin's intense energy consumption is one of the topics that has been discussed a lot, and the search option will show you hundreds of topics."-That is great. But it is not good enough.

"There is no contradictory link between Bitcoin and artificial intelligence, the two can be a revolutionary technology."-Right now, AI is kind of a fad just like blockchain was. But right now, AI has some legitimacy to it even though it has been hyped to death, but I cannot say the same thing about public blockchains.

"There are no direct links between Bitcoin and fraud. It is true that there is some connection between cryptocurrencies and fraud, but with a little observation, you will find a big difference between Bitcoin and cryptocurrencies."-I agree that Bitcoin is different than most of the other cryptocurrrencies and that Bitcoin is a legitimate cryptocurrency that was constructed through a lot of good research while many other cryptocurrencies are mostly copies of Bitcoin with little innovation. The chlurmcks who value other cryptocurrencies need a scientific mindset too, so there is no contradiction there. But cryptocurrency technologies need to be associated with scientific advancement instead of science denial and scams. If Bitcoin was devoid of scammery, we would not have boards on this site about reputation now would we? And are you suggesting that the Bitcoin community should be less scientifically minded? Because why would you do that? That does not help anyone. The Bitcoin community is already full of science deniers as it is, so they need more respect for science so that they don't fall into scam after scam and have weird cult-like ideas. There are plenty of Bitcoiners who have quite irrational ideas, and they need a more scientific mindset so that they can replace those ideas with more realistic ideas.

Totally agree into this sentiment on which it is really just that actually on point on which you wont really be needing for you on making yourself that too technical or whatever kind of approach that you would really be needing to do because having just that making use of your own common sense would really be just that enough or fine and just like been said that if there's something that it is really that too good to be true
then its most likely a scam or make yourself that some in depth search on how its possible even it do really looks impossible, with this kind of behavior and mindset then it is really that unlikely that you would really be getting scammed since you do have that kind of realistic approach on things.

If you are that someone whose really that greedy then there would really be chances that you would really be that get scammed since you would really be getting easily hooked up with those true to be good kind of offers on which even it is already that too obvious but still you are really that decide on engaging into it just because you do let your greed control you and this is something that should
really be that avoided in the first place.

carlfebz2-Um. Common sense tells me that I need to investigate and use the scientific method. And if something is not worth investigating, then it is not worth investing in. If you only allow yourself 2 seconds to judge something based on first appearance, then you will make a ton of bad decisions. Most Bitcoiners and crypto chlurmcks make terrible decisions because they refuse to investigate anything at all but instead judge something without even giving 3 seconds of their time to think about it.

-Joseph Van Name Ph.D.

Would it surprise you to know that a lot of victims of big scams are actually highly educated people who know scientific research very well?

Yes we hear a lot of common scams but these are small fish. Wealthy academics get scammed by bigger lies.

The truth is once you attack the emotion and greed, common sense goes out the window. Hence you must use Bitcoin before investing. Pure speculators only see money without utility experience. No science thinking saves you :)

I understand what you are saying. The point here is about avoiding a fraud scheme. A rational mindset and research must be carried out in detail and continuously. Like the case of FTX, if it wasn't for thoroughness, FTX might still be standing today, but there was someone who was thorough and revealed the scheme that FTX had problems and ended up being a scam.

We often find fraudulent schemes in crypto and outside of crypto, and no matter how rational someone is, they will always be deceived because they are lured by the amount of money generated or promised in the scheme. The point is that this can be avoided with a rational mindset and not being easily attracted to placing money in things that have the potential to be a scam, the control is within oneself and perhaps even the advice of an expert will not work on people who are lured in by scams.

When you say scientific mind then you are already implying this is an intelligent mind...but does it mean a scientific minded person can not be scammed??? Am Pretty much sure such minds can be scammed too.
As far as am concerned it's actually common sense that will allow a user from being scammed and doesn't require some certain level of IQ to tell from what's a scam and what isn't!!

Besides what happens if the scammer has a scientific mindset...i guess it's chaos and still comes back to common sense to save you from being scammed.

Right. Having a scientific mind doesn't automatically mean you're scam-proof. Scammers are sneaky and can manipulate anyone's emotions and trust. It's not just about IQ or being super smart. Common sense is something natural that we just have to work on. Knowing what feels off and trusting your gut instincts can save you from falling into scams, no matter how scientifically inclined you are. And yes, scams don't discriminate based on someone's mindset. Even if a scammer has a scientific mindset, it can lead to total chaos. But in the end, it all boils down to common sense. Staying aware, being cautious, and recognizing the warning signs are universal defenses against scams. So, whether you're a science pro or not, being street smart can keep you safe. A scientific mindset would help but we shouldnt stop there. Wehve to keep our eyes open, be skeptical when something seems fishy and trust our instincts.

Personally, I think in order for us to avoid scams, we do not need to pass through such scientific method for us to figure out if something is legitimate or not. Yes, we need to think critically and be logical about things so that we cannot be easily swayed by something, which is the common reason why someone was being scammed. But what I mean is that we do not have to make things complicated, because not everyone has the same intellectual capacities than others. I think that you just need to learn about the basics in finding out what is legitimate and what is not. Sometimes, it's very obvious and you just need to use your common sense. But I would like to put an emphasis on what you have mentioned, and that is to do background reading like the whitepapers. Because this will be the best way for us to find out if something is a scam or not. Again, it does not require us to be intellectual people to avoid scams, sometimes you just have to use your common sense and think critically.

There will always be gaps where people can be scammed even if they are smart or well-versed in advanced technology.
Speaking of fraud, there are many people who are even very careful about everything and take everything into account but can still be tricked, can still be hacked.

Even those who understand security will be too paranoid about all kinds of security that they think is lacking.
Being smart is relative and does not guarantee one is free from fraud.
Those who don't have the title of smart even tend to be safer, because they ignore what they don't need and don't over-act on something they think is out of line.

What is actually needed is a healthy mind, a mind that will think about whatever will be done in the next 1 second.
Full of calculation and vigilance.

slaman29-You have made a claim, so where is your scientific evidence to back up this claim?

Woodie-"When you say scientific mind then you are already implying this is an intelligent mind...but does it mean a scientific minded person can not be scammed???"-If one applies the scientific mindset to investing, one is less likely to get scammed. I never said it is impossible to get scammed, so even people who think they have a scientific mindset still need to be vigilant and apply their scientific mindset to their investments.

"As far as am concerned it's actually common sense that will allow a user from being scammed and doesn't require some certain level of IQ to tell from what's a scam and what isn't!!"-No. People need to do the research to find out what is legitimate and what is not. The problem is that most people only rely on first impressions and are unwilling to do any research whatsoever.

"Besides what happens if the scammer has a scientific mindset...i guess it's chaos and still comes back to common sense to save you from being scammed."-A scammer with a scientific mindset will be less likely to be scammed than a scammer without a scientific mindset.

"I think that you just need to learn about the basics in finding out what is legitimate and what is not."-By just learning the basics, you will not be able to find out what is legitimate or not. At the very best, you will just be able to follow what everyone else is doing. The problem is that most people are really dumb and don't know what they are doing; it is another case of the blind leading the blind.

"But I would like to put an emphasis on what you have mentioned, and that is to do background reading like the whitepapers. Because this will be the best way for us to find out if something is a scam or not. Again, it does not require us to be intellectual people to avoid scams, sometimes you just have to use your common sense and think critically."-Yes. One should always read the whitepaper and other documents before deciding to invest in something.

taufik123-And that is why we should talk about the probability of getting scammed since being an 'intellectual' is no guarantee that one is completely immune to scams.

Their no scientific measure that can eradicate scam, to start with, a scam is be done and achieved base on your desperation to achieve what you want, so if you are not curious of getting something I don't think you and I can be a victim of scam, a scientific method can't prevent you of not be scam.

You emphasise on scientific mindset very well, if I should ask you what do you think is a scientific mindset from your theory and your observations. Do you know that cryptocurrency that is in worldwide market today was been introduced base on scientific theory, do also know that bitcoin which is the top cryptocurrency today the technology was established due to scientific technology.

"Do you know that cryptocurrency that is in worldwide market today was been introduced base on scientific theory, do also know that bitcoin which is the top cryptocurrency today the technology was established due to scientific technology."-I read the Bitcoin whitepaper. While it is a scientific paper, Bitcoin still has a mining algorithm that was never designed to advance science, and the Bitcoin community really hates science. Bitcoin uses science, but that does not count at all since it is much better to contribute to science than to simply use it.

Reading a whitepaper is enough information to avoid scams.
There should be education and awareness in this field to avoid scams and understanding the common strategies used by scammers and the vulnerabilities they target can help educate us regarding this matter.

You can use scientific tools to educate yourself not necessarily to eliminate scams entirely but to reduce their prevalence and protect potential victims.

Why would it need to advance science? Bitcoin is not scientific research, so obviously it will just incorporate the most secure algorithm available at the time it was developed. I wouldn't be surprised if a new algorithm comes out and is stronger, without a ton of drawbacks, people will fork or move to that. Besides how does it help to avoid scams even if satoshi or others make a new algorithm? Most retail users don't really care about the nitty-gritty tech.

Where does this hating science narrative come from? Due to the fact that many disprove the narrative that mining consumes a lot of energy or produces a ton of waste? That doesn't make sense. Most arguments that they bring to disprove this also use scientific research. Why would anyone hate science if it can improve Bitcoin or help its adoption?

Reading the whitepaper is without a doubt a good step in order to determine if a project is any good or not, however it is also important that investors change their mindset as they are simply too naive for my tastes.

Investors need to be way more skeptic about whatever claims they read online, and if there is a way to test if those claims are true then they need to do so and see if those claims stand up to those tests, and if they did that then will soon realize the majority of the coins out there cannot pass such examination and they will be able to avoid investing in them, saving themselves a great deal of trouble by simply taking a few minutes of their time.

Profits is our primary targets, there's absolutely nothing more considerable than earning in the system and sticking to a particular strategy. Information is key, most individuals often ignore vital piece of information concerning the system due to their ignorance or having no concerns because they're more focused on earning. They forget to anticipate learning before earning in the system, that's how one grow to become a professional trader. Scams are present in all sectors, since we can not eradicate the functions it serves, we just have to create awareness of the scamming activities that circulates round the system.

I think it's not necessarily to have that kind of mindset to avoid scams in crypto. Scams are everywhere that's why we always have to do a research of the project we are going to invest. It's not that hard to identify if the project is legit or scam especially if you've been doing that for a long time. No matter how much time you've spent to research a project if it's real, you can't be sure that it's scam 100% because honestly projects can explode through hype even though it's not promising. A good example of that is the meme coins. In my opinion, experience and discipline is far better than scientific mindset.

My claims are very very well documented. I'm surprised wanting to discuss the topic you don't know this (thus proving my claim that educated and academics are not foolproof).

Here are some research based evidence that any village guy can google:

Barclays: young educated most likely to fall for scams (https://www.thisismoney.co.uk/money/beatthescammers/article-4484396/Those-degree-education-likely-fall-scams.html).

FINRA & Stanford: People who never expected to be scammed often are scammed and are among the most vulnerable (https://www.finrafoundation.org/sites/finrafoundation/files/exposed-to-scams-what-separates-victims-from-non-victims_0_0.pdf). Yes, that means most of us, who think we are so clever, are most likely to get scammed lol People ask me why I am so skeptical and expect scams, this is why.

Yup, what is the meaning of "Intellectual" if they can still be deceived, it's about the human mind that is still full of greed and sometimes can't think properly about what is being done.
Considering the fraud business as a business that will generate a lot of profit.
No one is truly immune to fraud, unless they don't do any work.

Note For OP:
It is better for you to use the "QUOTE" Feature to answer each member's comments here,
so that it is easier and looks more neat with the order of the discussion.

Reading the Whitepaper will never be enough to avoid scammers.
Fraudsters are smart and have a variety of ways to commit fraud including by making Whitepapers look genuine with projects that look real.

Especially now that using AI makes a good whitepaper easier and faster.

To avoid fraud, there must be detailed research to know whether the project is good or not.
There are many things that need to be examined including the team or developer behind it and several partners who work together.

"Bitcoin is not scientific research, so obviously it will just incorporate the most secure algorithm available at the time it was developed."-Um. The Bitcoin whitepaper has many citations, so I would consider that a significant scientific advancement. But Bitcoin's mining algorithm was never designed to advance science even though this is possible (don't try to argue with me because you do not know the details and I am done talking to you about the details), so that is a scientific setback which has attracted a lot of chlurcmks and chlurmcklets to the cryptocurrency ecosystem. But the idea that Bitcoin mining should not be used to advance science at all is completely and utterly asinine and is a signal of a very low level of intelligence.

"I wouldn't be surprised if a new algorithm comes out and is stronger, without a ton of drawbacks, people will fork or move to that."-No they won't. Bitcoiners do not care about science because they have a low level of intelligence. And the scientific advancement will not make the transactions go quicker or be more secure. And the Bitcoin community has proven that it is too !@#$ing inept to properly evaluate the claims of a scientific mining algorithm.

"Besides how does it help to avoid scams even if satoshi or others make a new algorithm? Most retail users don't really care about the nitty-gritty tech."-Scam victims are usually victims of a disease called stupidity. If Bitcoin had a mining algorithm that were designed to advance science, then not only would we have more science in the world, but Bitcoin will attract better people than it does, and those better people would be less likely to fall into the dumbest scams ever.

"Where does this hating science narrative come from? Due to the fact that many disprove the narrative that mining consumes a lot of energy or produces a ton of waste? That doesn't make sense. Most arguments that they bring to disprove this also use scientific research. Why would anyone hate science if it can improve Bitcoin or help its adoption?"-It only makes sense to people who are smarter than you.

wxa7115-The good news is that the Bitcoin whitepaper completely explains how Bitcoin works. It is a well written and quite understandable paper to those who are intelligent enough to understand anything about anything. So we should not just read the whitepaper to learn about the claims but about how the technology works and whether the way the technology works seems plausible. The Bitcoin whitepaper seems plausible from reading it and it works in practice too, so that is good enough for me, but the mining algorithm was not designed to advance science, so I cannot invest in Bitcoin.

-Joseph Van Name Ph.D.

Obviously you are making such a conclusion because you have only encountered scam, which was obvious and did not even require research. But if professionals such as Bernard Madoff¹ take up the case, then such a scam has been very difficult to identify for 40 years.
1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bernie_Madoff

What will happen to those who don't have a scientific mindset? Your title makes me nervous that I may be in danger. I am working on various projects as a community mod so i have seen a lot of scam attempts and methods commonly used by scammers. What I think is most important is to have common sense and control over your greed to avoid scams. Most of the time it is our greed that leads us to a scam.

Honestly, most of those very promising projects are actually scams. That "too good to be true" project. First of all, it will be difficult to identify if this is really legit or not because they put in a lot of effort and you can even say that it is more legit than other successful projects. I was also one of the victims of that before, so now I've learned something and should be more aware, always research the project you're going to enter even if you think it's legit. Same on the individual you mentioned above.

You need to be smart. That's literally the simplest and shortest summary of all of this and there isn't really need for anything else. If you are a smart person then you would see a scam a mile away, it's been ten years since I am in this market and never been scammed once ,that has to be mean something, am I a genius?

Of course not, I am just an ordinary person with some curious mind and that means instead of wanting to believe something just because I want to believe it, I rather not believe anything until proven otherwise. That's the scientific mind, because in science you do not accept a thing just to accept it, you have to prove it and have some sort of paper on it, and after that then you can accept it and work better as well.

Scams are too obvious, just do not believe anyone until proven otherwise and you are going to be doing fine, everyone is a scammer and everyone wants to scam you, that's the start point, then you can move further to reality later on.

Everything you said can be summed up in one sentence: "Do your own research." If you don't, the chances of becoming a victim of a fraudster are extremely high. Why do we think about con artists? Are they ignorant or intelligent people? Of course, those people are intelligent; it's only that their intelligence was misapplied due to their wealth.

You will not be easily duped if you become an observant person and are sensitive to your surroundings, especially the stranger who will speak to you. People are vulnerable to scammers and exploiters since they don't know anything.

 No need for science to come in. If you really understand the type of investment you are doing, then you wouldn't be susceptible into committing scams. Even regular people with less scientific knowledge will eventually know that the certain thing would likely to turn into scam or not just by assessing the trend that it follows, I mean by looking if its too good to be true to happen or not. And by being too greedy to expect for quick profits from your investment, most likely you will be easily lured from the traps of the scammers.

Scamming is not new anymore, and as long as there are people who let themselves being fool and lured, scammers will continue to exist. But if people will try to be more cautious in every investment that they try to take risk, then most probably the rate of scamming will be minimized.

I think it is only possible to minimize it, not to eliminate it because it will never disappear in this world, all fraud in various ways will continue to be carried out by bad people, but we have to be observant and think realistically to avoid this.
And in my opinion, one way to avoid this fraud is to have knowledge so that we can think realistically and scientifically, apart from that I think there is none, that's why extensive knowledge is very important.

-Well, it takes a little bit of computer science knowledge to read the Bitcoin whitepaper, so if you have gone that far, then you probably have a good amount of knowledge to see what may or may not be a scam. But I mentioned a scientific mindset instead of scientific knowledge or scientific experience since one will need this mindset to test the claims being made.

-That is fair enough. Although there may be some confounding variable that explains why the educated are more likely to be scammed. On the other hand, academic institutions have taught me to distrust them very much because they are so unprofessional, so I would not be too surprised if the chlurmcks who have graduated from these institutions are too inept to avoid scams. Maybe this means that educated people should humble themselves and acknowledge that they are not immune to scams and they also need to apply a scientific mindset to determining what to invest in. Are the people with science degrees more or less likely to be scammed than those with liberal arts degrees? What about those with business and marketing degrees?



-Yes. People need to do their own research and be exceptionally skeptical of others and all claims that others make especially in the cryptocurrency ecosystem. Unfortunately, the cryptocurrency ecosystem has attracted too many bad actors.


-A scientific/security mindset of verifying and distrusting others is needed for anyone who wants to invest in cryptocurrency technologies. For example, I have been skeptical about my own cryptographic algorithms even after implementation that I have developed quite a few novel machine learning algorithms based on the spectral radius in order to evaluate the cryptographic security of these algorithms (but I am not done with this yet since I need more hardware). But it may be difficult to truly tell whether a project is worthwhile or not because most people have low levels of intelligence.

-Joseph Van Name Ph.D.

It's funny that you mention first about scientific mindset, then me showing evidence (scientific) that that very thinking and training actually doesn't make you less vulnerable (in fact quite the opposite) gets you saying you distrust peer-reviewed work.

You're right though I agree, we should be skeptical towards everything but I think sometimes educated and crypto people think too highly of themselves, and can't even consider the possibility that they could be scam victims. Further blinded by greed they fall into traps.

I think if you use crypto without that underlying desire to make money, that, rather than the scientific mindset, is what avoids scams as all scams target greed.

Yes, it will not be possible to eliminate fraud from this world and in my opinion almost everyone has committed fraud for various reasons that they have created, whether for good or just to benefit the fraudster. I really agree with you that we can only avoid fraud committed by other people and it is very important for us to have a little knowledge about anything to be able to avoid fraud and also we have to get along with anyone regardless of their status so that we have a lot of experience in the field. life so that if someone wants to deceive us, we can easily find out and we can avoid the fraud.

That's one hell of a long explanation comparing and combining science and cryptocurrencies.
It is not how I got into cryptocurrencies or more precisely Bitcoin.
Here I can manage my own investment, it doesn't need science to do that. Let's just say I got so tired of how hard it is to invest with other types of investments, finding a broker, and then letting them manage it all while it's your money that is on the line, and the worst thing is, you are paying them expensive prices just to handle all those things.
Here, I don't really need them. A financial advisor might be enough to give me some pointers on how I could manage my money and then everything will be up to me if I want to trade it or just keep it as an asset and let it grow in value in the long run.
Regarding scams, well I think this forum had a big share in repeating all the necessary guidelines to avoid them. There are so many threads created about it, some of them are real stories of members who got scammed big time by making a wrong decision.
Sometimes you cannot avoid them, there are promising projects that sweet talk their way to urge many investors and they cannot be stopped.

Scamming is not part of this natural world, hence science should not be applied. It's only when innovation takes its place, scamming has become so rampant. But I don't see a need for scientific mindset to predict scams and avoid it in the process.

We all know that scamming is everywhere right now. That is the reason why instead of quick decision making and judgement, extensive research is what need to do. By trying to know the background of every platform or investment, and learning from the experiences of other people, then we can minimize the scenario of falling ourselves into the scammer's trap.

By educating oneself about the different methods of scammers these days, and opening our eyes to the reality of legit investments that everything is gained through hard work and patience, then predicting scams would be easier for us especially if we already see the red flags in a certain investment. If we are seeing everything is too good to be true, then most probably scam is waving. We need to take our hands off immediately when that time happens.

Furthermore, there's no need for a scientific mindset to let us know that in front of us is a scam. The fact that it offers rich quick profits more than any other legit and reliable investments, then we can say loud and clear that it's a big scam and so we need to avoid it immediately.

Quite interesting, I didn't read the articles that you shared, you just gave names and not any links and I didn't want  to go search for them so I assume that you are right. But scientific and "smart" doesn't really sound like they are the same things.

One of the examples you gave says "young educated", what is the education? Are we talking about engineers from MIT or are we talking about "English literature from Ohio state" because those are different stuff, and just because one is considered "educated" just because they went through the education system, doesn't mean they know scientific method, as in checking the proof, most didn't even studied anything related to science, what if they studied arts? And the other is just least expected, so not even talking about education there.

Please look at my post again. I linked both studies that I cited (But if you had Googled them they would be very easy to find).

Look, the point is not to argue about being precise about what kind of degree makes you likely to get scammed, if Stanford did the research you must assume they have high standards for maximizing objectivity.


Dude this is why you need to read before commenting. The definition being cited exactly means those who got a degree.

The point, which seems to be lost for most people commenting, is that educated people think because of their education (which requires them to study with scientific mindset right????), they won't get scammed but this exact thinking gets them scammed. You did a degree? Doesn't matter arts, which I did. You know to do dissertation, you must use quantitative or qualitative methods. Arts and humanities use a lot of qualitative research. It's STILL a scientific method!

It's funny, all the nonsense arguments about definition etc and everybody missed the point that people in crypto get scammed and mainly because they think they're too clever to be scammed.

When we talk about scam projects, we can't help thinking that it's too good to be true. Why do we say this? because when someone offers $100, they will make it $200 after 1 week. When the ROI they say is like that, please stop believing in such systems.

Don't allow yourself to be wild, greedy for money, or have the mentality of a quick-rich scheme. This has been happening for several years, and I hope that no one gets scammed or cheated just because of such scams, so that they don't fall victim again.

I think we don't need to be a rocket scientist though to fall for crypto scams. If the offer is too good to be true, then that is already a red flag. Been here in the last 6 years or so, scam once, and so I've learn from my past mistakes. But if you keep on getting victimized because you think that crypto is easy money, and get rich quick scheme, then you are very wrong.

So do not overthink here, as a normal individual, for sure you will have that brain of yours to see and small from afar what crypto scams looks like. And so even how good their offer what or what percentage that they are telling that you are going to get, just ran and never look back and not to think of even investing a single satoshi.

They know they need to do that because that is the only way for them to scam more people. Maybe they look legit but they are not yet on the level of a successful project. Even if we think like that, it's important to not be confident but let's still make an effort to double-check things. One or two mistakes must be enough already to teach us a lesson. For those who are lazy or can't seem to learn, they can just stick on the successful projects. They only need to practice on how to be patient and on how to control their emotions, just in case they like to monitor their investments, if ever they didn't learned these things yet.

The logic of "scientific mindset" is basically what science does, which is a proof. I mean when people talk about Isaac Newton "he had an apple drop to his head so he figured out gravity" that's not how law of gravity became a reality, he wrote a whole paper about it, that's how it became a reality, if it was just him and an apple then nobody would ever hear about it, it is not like some rumor that went from mouth to mouth, there was an actual paper that proved it.

So, if someone tells you that they can make you money, ask to see proof, and see if the proof could be repeated, the mindset of "just trust me" is not enough at all and would not be a good idea to follow up, so you should try to avoid those people at all costs.

It's arguably true about a scientific mindset being able to anticipate, detect and avoid scams quicker because of the age in which we exist. Technology is the hot take or career path for most graduates, and anyone who gets to be able to fully operate a computer, can read and write fluently, and stays atunned to the news channels these days will be smart enough to learn of news of hacks and scams and the best way to avoid them.

You would really be needing up that common sense and doesnt really need up on any technical approach or whatever that scientific that we are that talking about. You would be able to point out on what are the things that must done and what are the things that must avoid for you to be be able to avoid scams and just simply making use of that common sense that you could be able to point out on what are those shit thing that you
might encounter along the way.Somewhat due to lack of experience and knowledge then it would really be that normal that there are times or moments that we do miss out on making valid decisions due to the fact that we are really that going for our targets that had been set out. We are believing on something which it isnt really that realistic or something that easy to approach on.

Scams are everywhere and if you arent that careful enough or mindful about your actions then you are really that prone on experience in out on which means that losing money will surely be guaranteed.
Sooner or later on the time that you would be having that kind of experience then you would already have that kind of awareness on things around and this is where you could
easily spot out which is really that good thing to engage on and which is not.

Exactly, it's all about general knowledge at first and experience later, in case someone unfortunately becomes a victim of one of the scams they come across. However, in my opinion, one doesn't even need to go through a scam to understand how a scam basically works if one generally knows what can be right and wrong when one gets an offer or sees an investment opportunity. Someone doesn't need to become a victim just to understand this fact.

However, most people become greedy and start thinking that they can actually get a lot of money from these offers due to a lack of experience and knowledge about the industry as you said, otherwise, the offers that they get are usually too good to be true but newbies don't understand that.

Just use the word logical, it's more fitting because if we are talking about scientific, that means that you're going to be using the scientific method which is finding evidences and testing your hypothesis which in the case of scams, it's not going to be really a good thing. Just use your common sense to identify scams or just avoid being a victim of one, what I mean by using your common sense, if something or someone offers you something that's too good to be true, it probably ain't true.

-  I have already made a topic about how to avoid scams:
https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=5419698.msg61252106#msg61252106
Because most people here in the forum community also know that scammers will not disappear in reality.
So the only thing we can really do is avoid it.

And the question is, what are the possible steps we should take to avoid them? here in a way that is different to prevent scammers from happening.
But those who are also victims of scammers are actually mostly those who are also driven by greed because they were prudent in those times before they became victims.

If you are aware about how scams are done and know already the red flags you can see in a scammer, then it’s obvious that even a regular mind can track it. No need to be highly knowledgeable or high leveled IQ so you can easily identify those scams. Scammers are everywhere now so if we once fall into its trap, I don’t think we’ll let ourselves fall again for the same trap.

However, the only way to avoid scams is to learn from other people’s experiences. Be rational and wise. If you can’t do that, you will always be taken advantage by all types of scammers.

Using our common sense is enough, so if for example we see the developers of a coin promising huge profits if we invest with them then we can know right away it is a scam due to several reasons, like the developers not controlling the demand, being unable to control the price, hundreds of coins similar to the one they created, Satoshi himself being unable to do this even when he created the best coin there is and this whole market as well, and so forth.

And the best thing is that kind of analysis can be done in a split of a second, saving us a massive amount of time which can be used to analyze the projects which are worthy of that attention.

We know very well here that when we hear only promises in a new project, that is definitely a red flag for us. We do not send such misleading words to their prospects. So more intelligence and observance are needed.

Especially now, we are getting closer to the upcoming bull run, but bitcoin is halving first before bulls. That's why doing your own research is also a big deal for us, so that we don't fall into their traps. Let's just remember that we should always be prudent.

Wow this is great I don't know that there would be a scientific mindset to avoid scams.

I usually put it simply If they offered me something that is impossible to achieve like turned profit 1000% in a week or something like that I just ignore it, because if people can generate that huge amount of money in a week why they need people to invest hahaha.

But if you still believe to that nonsense you can check it by sending them a little test money hahahha which i don't recommend at all

Yes, if we listen to the profits received from a new project and promises of very large profits then of course this is very unreasonable and of course we have to avoid that project. It is important for us to be able to understand well what we are going to do, if we invest in Bitcoin then we must understand well the right time to buy it so that we can get a profit from the investment we are going to make because if we don't understand well what we are doing so we panic if the price decreases.

Most of the promise stated by those project didn't really happen so we should be aware regarding on the words they place and to see how realistic their plans written on their project. Since mostly they just write those words to make their project looks good that's why its not good to invest base on first impression only since scammers always make their introduction looks good so that they could try to catch the interest of people to invest on their project.

Also for us investors its really better that we should research all detailed information about them so that we could see if their claim is realistic and there's a chance that they could able to deliver their promised project to their investor. If we found that its just a pure bullshit and to many redflags shown then its time for us to exit then find other more better.

 Don't make things too complicated. Anyone can easily track a scam provided that it has certain red flags that will help us point and identify that it's really a scam. Even without applying a scientific mindset, you will know that a scam is heading and that you should avoid it as early as possible before it will hit you and start taking advantage of you. But that will only happen if you are exposed to different scams happening around, that's why being cautious and careful is crucial so that we won't be falling on their traps again and continue their mission.

However, if you think that there is a need for a scientific mindset in order to identify and avoid scams, then that's also your choice. But never assume that everyone will stick to it as by being logical and rational, you will certainly end up identifying and avoiding a scam.

First off, is there a connection between science and Bitcoin? In my opinion, the answer is definitely affirmative, as Bitcoin relies on cryptography, which is widely utilized in other scientific domains including data protection and network security.

Second, given that Bitcoin is built on blockchain technology, we also know that it has the power to completely transform a variety of sectors, including finance and healthcare. Thirdly, Bitcoin is renowned for being a peer-to-peer, decentralized money that is impossible for any entity to control—not even a central bank or government.

It seems like 'common sense' is good for recognizing obvious scams. For example, if someone claims that one can double the money overnight, then that is an obvious scam. But what about non-obvious scams? People need to become much more sophisticated so that they both recognize good projects and reject scams, and this simply isn't happening. People instead gobble up everything that the media says, and they reject everything that the media does not tell them to gobble up. And the reasons why people reject projects are usually complete and total bullshit because most people judge based on superficial crap instead of innovation because in order to judge a project based on innovation, one has to read research, and most people are either too uneducated or too lazy to read the research or even to figure out which research they should read or not.

kingvirtus09-I agree that there is a connection between science and Bitcoin. The use of cryptography in Bitcoin is somewhat scientific and somewhat unscientific. Satoshi Nakamoto did some very innovative scientific research in order to create Bitcoin, but the mining algorithm was not designed for Bitcoin. Satoshi selected SHA-256 mining because he considered SHA-256 to be good enough. I personally do not consider SHA-256 to be good enough because cryptocurrency mining does not just need to secure the network, but the computation should serve some other purpose without giving up on any of the security properties that hash functions satisfy. Unfortunately, the cryptocurrency community is filled with chlurmcks who do not care about science, so we currently do not have any mining algorithm that is much better than SHA-256 and which has scientific merit.

-Joseph Van Name Ph.D.

First time I am hearing that the crypto currency community is anti-scientific. Personally, I like science a lot, especially physics and mathematics interest me and I was never against pushing the fiends ahead. Trying to avoid scams is one thing and being anti science is something completely different. Not sure if trading is really part of science, but once you deal in large enough sums of money you are automatically attracting scammers. Scams are what some people call a free lunch, you try to take advantage of others without providing and my real services. The best approach to scams is to be cautious and realistic about the future. If some promises me things that sound too good to be true than it's likely not true and should be avoided. In science we should be more open towards new theories and as long as they are not proven wrong there might be benefits.

We don't need to have a scientific mindset to see if that project is a scam because it seems easy to spot this if you are not a greedy person.
 - they offer instant and big rewards
 - they promise things that are impossible

If we really have them in our minds, I don't think we fall into them. Unfortunately, most of us easily give trust and grab the offer from these scammers. Of course, they'll do everything to catch greedy people, and sad to say they usually win and take away the money of their victims.

Whether it's necessary or not really depends on how you can guess which projects are genuine and which projects are fake.
Whether it's too greedy or not is a matter of self-control.
Nowadays, scammers are getting smarter and won't make overly flashy offers or even promise huge prizes.

They will play with a person's psychology to feed on the bait they provide, so that it will be a good hook and start manipulating users into their plans.

See how there are many scams on several types of investment platforms, gambling, trading, and some private sales that look legitimate but are actually just stealing money from people.

So in order to avoid scams, it's not just about having a scientific mind, it's also about having a clear mind and being aware of the many dangers that lurk.
Become smarter than the scammers and keep up with how the scam methods are evolving to be more vigilant.

Well, I somehow agree with what you said, because I know and understand that a lot of people don't do proper research before they get involved with a cryptocurrency project financially. They don't even bother checking their websites or reading their whitepapers properly, all they care about is the price of the coin and the hype that they are creating on social media or through other promotional channels available on the internet which shouldn't be the only metric to think that a project is worth the investments being made in it.

However, I also don't think that investors or users should get into too many technical and scientific details about the project but they should at least thoroughly evaluate the project, the team behind it, the purpose of creating the project, and how much of a difference that will make for the community, etc.

-The problem is that the investors are unwilling to go into much of any scientific details of the project because they are lazy and know nothing about anything. They are also too arrogant to ask any questions about the project. Because of their arrogance and heinous superiority complexes, they hate the good projects because the good projects for really dumb reasons. These people are the worst of the worst.

-Joseph Van Name Ph.D.

The reality is most people are after for quick profits in this market, hence, they overlook valuable projects.
Also, they may be tired of seeing those comprehensive papers because as people have seen throughout the years, it is not an assurance that the project will pull it off.
A lot of good projects have been shelved because of lack of funding or weak marketing, hence, the team can't make the project survive.

remember that the coins that can turning out to be scam aren't those that overpromising, remember scammers are getting smarted by the days, there are many projects that offer something plausible but still turning out to be scam anyway, thats because the scammer know that overpromising will only lead to suspicion of being a scam project.
even there are many coins that have established hundred of millions of market capitalization turning out to be scam, remember the cause of the current bearish?
thats why aside from knowing that overpromising is such a huge redflag, we should also have the scientific mindset to always know if there's something going on with the coin that we invested in.
because usually those that too trusting in a coin they invested are the one that gonna lose it all if the prospect of their coin went south.