A few days ago I was driving my daughter to school. She’s aware of my interest in crypto-currencies since I’m usually rambling on about Bitcoin every now and then. I mentioned to her about a new coin called Dogecoin and when I mentioned its origins to her, the first response I got was a smile and then a “for real”. She knew about the meme and the 2013 award, but not about the coin. Her smile got me thinking and reminded me of a course I took a few years back
Just a little background:I have always aspired to hold a specific elected office in my City (NYC) and in preparation I pursued my Master’s in Public Administration at Harvard University (Kennedy School of Government). Most of the courses that I took were extremely interesting and centered around policy and politics of course as well as a few courses on public speaking, running campaigns, organizing groups and even one called “The Making of a Politician”—which actually prepared you for office. But by far, the most interesting course I took at the Kennedy School was one that was very difficult to enroll in. This course was called “Persuasion: The Science and Art of Effective Influence” and was taught by Dr. Gary Orren.
http://www.hks.harvard.edu/degrees/teaching-courses/course-listing/mld-342Students from every Harvard school (Gov’t, Law, Education, Divinity, etc.) had to essentially use a bidding system to enroll in this course. Students from M.I.T. were also permitted to enroll in this course. I had saved my bidding points from the prior semester because I had heard that this was an exceptional course.
On my first day in class Dr. Orren gave us an overview of the course and what to expect. During his presentation he mentioned that many years back a young man named Barack Obama sat (pointed to the seat) right near the middle of the class room and took the same course. One of my classmates leaned over mentioned that President Obama had once said that this was one of his favorite courses while attending Harvard. When making speeches, President Obama often follows the models taught at the Kennedy School (his lead speech writer – Cody Keenan is also a Harvard Kennedy School graduate). I’m just trying to reveal how truly impressive this course was, but I think I’m rambling on. Let’s get to the point.
So in this course in addition to several other things, we learned that in order to persuade someone to agree with you, do it your way, follow you, move in a direction you desire, etc., (important in the politics & policy world) there needs to be three elements that form a foundation; the logos, ethos and pathos. Aristotle was the philosopher who put forward that idea.
Rather than dig out my notes I’m going to cheat and cut and paste descriptions of the three elements. These descriptions were found on a webpage
http://courses.durhamtech.edu/perkins/aris.htmlEthos (Credibility), or ethical appeal, means convincing by the character of the author (or of the crypto in our case). We tend to believe people whom we respect. One of the central problems of argumentation is to project an impression to the reader that you are someone worth listening to, in other words making yourself as author into an authority on the subject of the paper, as well as someone who is likable and worthy of respect.
Crypt-currencies have established their Ethos, we know that it is legitimate. We believe in it.
Logos (Logical) means persuading by the use of reasoning. Giving reasons is the heart of argumentation, and cannot be emphasized enough.
Crypto-currencies are logical to user over other payment methods for a variety of reasons.
Pathos (Emotional) means persuading by appealing to the reader's emotions. Language choice affects the audience's emotional response, and emotional appeal can effectively be used to enhance an argument.
Excluding Dogecoin, all other Crypto-currencies lack Pathos.
Now finally to my point:When I speak of persuasion going forward, what I am speaking of is the ability to win over people and get them to engage in the use of a crypto-currency. And I’m not speaking of the IT person or other tech savvy individual who is most likely well aware of crypto-currencies. Instead, I’m speaking of the average person.
If we examine Bitcoin, Litecoin and the myriad of other cryptographic-currencies we can see that they definitely contain two of the three elements needed to be successful in persuading someone to “agree” with them (use them). The two elements that Bitcoin and alt-coins possess are Logos and Ethos.
Crypto-Ethos – I don’t think that I need to go too much into this. But if you understand crypto, then you’ll know crypto can be trusted. Crypto is trustworthy, you can believe it.
Crypto-Logos – if you have a basic understanding of how crypto-currencies work, then you’ll understand the logical benefits that it can offer. Credits cards weren’t meant to be used on the internet and the 21st century needs a new form of digital currency and crypto is the answer.
So to sum things up, there are logical reasons to use crypto-currencies and crypto is trustworthy.
The Crypto-Pathos is missing though. (until Dogecoin)Most people that I know who currently use crypto-currencies aren’t drawn to it by emotions. Instead, they understand its financial utility which is based on its logos and ethos.
The IT world and entrepreneurs who understand crypto-currencies are only a very small group, so how could you engage the masses to use crypto?
The answer to that is to create a crypto-currency that has all three elements to persuade them to use it. And along came Dogecoin.
Let's look at it from another perspective ---- Real Wrestling versus WWF Wrestling (now WWE Wrestling - fake on TV). Which one of these draws a larger audience? WWE Wrestling of course. We all know (well most of us) that it's fictitious, so why then does WWE Wrestling draw millions of viewers from around the world, as opposed to real wrestling that's just plain boring? Because WWE (fake wrestling) with all its drama, has the emotional appeal that can move an audience to want see it more.
Every other Crypto is like real wrestling - gets the job done but is basic and boring. Dogecoin also gets the job done, but brings a flare to the technology that a broader audience can embrace through its emotional appeal.
With Dogecoin, there is a story to tell. One that can make you smile. Excluding Bitcoin (the father of all Crypto) what coin has a story to tell the audience that is emotionally appealing (make you smile, laugh, cry, etc.) I love Litecoin but what story can it tell an audience about itself other than the technological aspects of its use?
Like Bitcoin and other crypto, Dogecoin has a burgeoning community and its acceptance is growing. It has a language all of its own. Dogecoin has the emotional appeal that can and will attract the masses.
Dogecoin is a pioneer in its use of an emotional appeal to attract a larger audience and its success won’t be specific to itself. Similar to how Bitcoin paved the way for other crypto-currencies to follow, Dogecoin is paving the way for others to follow as well. Dogecoin is Bitcoin 2.0.
There will be many other coins to follow in Dogecoin’s footstep that will utilize all 3 of the elements necessary to motivate non-tech people to embrace these types of currencies and I think that Dogecoin is off to a great start because it possess all of the technological aspects of Bitcoin but has the ability to make the average person smile. Can any other crypto-currency do that?
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